The Stories

All of my favorite memories of Grandpa involve his endless cache of stories. I don't remember a day with him when he wasn't telling us about one of the adventures in his life. Somehow i remember each one getting more elaborate every time he told it, and we loved it that way.

He'd always start with something like, "Have I told you about the time that I..." or, "That reminds me of the time that I..."; The time he fought off a bear in Yellowstone park, drove a car down the steps of a public library, learned how to swim by being thrown into a creek, flew through a hurricane in his airplane, won a school spelling bee but gave the trophy to his girlfriend and never saw it again, taught a lesson to a naughty boy at school, found stolen money inside a student's shoe...the list goes on and on.

I loved going over to his house and playing their old piano. The sound of it was awful, but Grandpa would always clap and clap and make me feel like a true celebrity. Every once in while, when he particularly enjoyed a piece, he'd tell me he'd heard a "blue note" so that I'd have to play it again. ;)

His sense of humor was unbeatable, and we'd see it come out at the most unexpected times. One time while reading scriptures as a family we came across this bit that mentioned "their hair being white and their hands spotted with age" or something, and Grandpa started examining his own hands with horror and touching his hair as if he'd just discovered it'd turned white. :D haha!

Once he told us a story that we'd never heard before. Surprised, we asked him where it'd come from. Without missing a beat he rapped himself on the head and said, "Every once in a while I just shake it up and see what comes out!"

Then there was the time that we were up at Uncle George's house in Alpine. It was just a couple years ago, and right during the time that Grandpa was (supposedly) starting to lose his memory and Grandma was always talking about it, worrying about it with everyone. Grandpa and I were sitting in the backyard swapping stories and suddenly grandma came out of the house and walked past us. Grandpa said, "I am sure a lucky fellow to have that woman". I agreed, and then he said, "There's just one problem...."

"What?"

He winked at me, "She thinks I have Alzheimer's."

Every time I'd ask him how old he was he'd always answer somewhere between the range of 18 and 28. and you know what? I could easily believe him. That man was timeless.

When I was living in NY and I got a letter from Grandma and she'd written, "I asked Grandpa if there was anything he wanted to tell you and he said, 'Tell her to get married and all her troubles will be over!'" I'll work on that Grandpa, but it will never be the same without you dancing at my wedding like you'd promised.