Reflection

We took a trip to Grandpa's house last weekend. I was talking about my e-reader, my new; and possibly forever; favorite toy. My uncle said "go get it, show grandpa". My dear sweet grandfather is 97 years old. He's done more than I can ever imagine, the world has change in ways through his life that are amazing to me. When my grandfather was born, there was no TV, when he had a job at the filling station, gas was 13 cents a gallon, he played baseball for the equivilent of the minor leagues before he married my grandmother and she told him that he had to go to church, so he quit playing baseball and went to church, he played softball with the church well into his 60s. He had quite the arm as a young man, he passed that on to his children who tried to pass that on to me, I can remember my dad's youngest sister trying to teach me how to throw a soft ball, I'm not too shabby, but nothing in the leagues of Grandpa on his greatest day. My grandpa farmed his land for a long time, I remember the fantastic garden that he had on his acre there in Colfax, the trees that he's cultivated from topping from trees on my eldest aunt's ranch. When my uncle got a package of those seed sheets, the one that are supposed to be so easy to plant, just lay down and water, grandpa made me cut them up into strips and plant them in rows, he sitting in a chair with an umbrella over him while I did the work and my uncle snickered in the corner. He told me to let go when I wanted to hold onto all the stuff from my moms house, he drove me to Reno when I decided to go to school, he took me to task when he felt I was too old to ask for money, but gave it to me anyway because he knew I wouldn't ask if I didn't need it. He never says too much about what he's thinking, but always knows what is important to me, what's going on in my life, and always rides me about taking care of my diabetes and watching my weight. So I went and go the e-reader.
I loaded up a book and handed it over to Grandpa, expecting he would make a cursory glance of the thing and hand it back with a "hmph". No, I was wrong, he took it, reading the enlarged print voraciously, finishing up the first chapter before turning it over and examining it. Handing it back, with a "boy, the things they come up with."
Uncle asked if he wanted one, he said with a smile "I'd sure like that" So, when my mother's sister's sent a generous gift, I went to Best Buy and investigated. I returned yesterday to take him a Kindle Touch 3G. He and my uncle and aunt will have a fun time getting to figure it out, but when I handed it to him, his eyes lit up.
So many people in my life are wonderful role models for myself and my children, what a blessing it is to reach 35 and have my grandfather to go home to, to share the wonders of technology with, and to love. The Lord is good, blessings abound.