My Poppa

I think I have the coolest Grandpa!

He's a little rough around the edges like John Wayne, he's someone who speaks and people listen. He's old fashion yet very modern in thinking. When I think of a man or what a man should be..........I envision someone like my Grandpa........someone who is a jack-of-all-trades, a philosopher of all things and someone who has been married to the love of his life for the past 51 years.

Having had the opportunity to retire at an early age; my Grandpa was my first babysitter. On the first day of babysitting me, his first Granddaughter, he created a Kool-Aide mobile that I was told entertained me for hours. The mobile is legendary around our neck of the woods.

My Grandpa; of course under the direction of my Grandma raised three wonderful children and had the most loving comfortable home. A home that consisted of a warm fire place keeping us cozy; a place that welcomed laughter, harbored love and was full of funny jokes Grandpa heard at the bar. And most important a place I could watch Dukes of Hazard and Dallas on Friday nights. That was our tradition for so many years; CBS on Friday nights! After all..........only Grandparents, especially Grandpa's could get away with allowing a four year old to watch the biggest drama series on television!

My Grandparents were also our main babysitters when my Parents would abandon us to vacation in luxurious places that kids didn't belong. On one such occasion, my Grandpa took my little sister grocery shopping and much to my Mother's demise bought three boxes of sugar cereal, one of those being Morning Funnies which was pure sugar. I'M almost positive that the lethal amounts of sugar in this cereal caused the FDA to remove it from the market place. My sister was on a sugar high for the rest of that month! Only Grandpa's can serve grand kids cereal with toxic sugar levels.

The above excerpts are just a few demonstrations of just how "cool" my Grandpa is.

My Grandpa is by far the most inspiring male role model that I know or have and because of him and his positive influence upon me..................I have found a pretty cool man that one day will be my John Wayne.