007 I miss everything about you but still you're gone

I was going through old pictures with my mom tonight. I think I made my mom cry a bit reminiscing about my grandpa. I always called him grampy, and grumpy on his not so good days. My grandpa died in 2001, and I still haven't forgotten the way he smelled after he put on his after shave, or the way that he used to yell at my sister and I if we weren't ready when our turn came around when we were playing baby rummy. My grandparents had been married over 55 years when my grandpa passed. I cannot even imagine spending my life with someone for that long, but I hope it happens. My mom told me that my grandpa never made more than 11 dollars an hour at International Harvester and still he gave my grandma a great life, and still is, even though he's no longer around.

I know my grandpa would be so proud of my mom. When he passed, my mom was working two jobs to keep up with us kids and the finances it takes to raise four kids. My mom actually went back to school for nursing because of all the days she spent with my grandpa in the hospital. She went back to school a year after he passed.

I truly think he is watching over me. Every time I would spend the night at my grandparents, he would wake me up and I'd walk into the kitchen, and he would always have breakfast made for me and have C-SPAN on. Last year, I walked into our kitchen and I'll be damned if C-SPAN didn't turn on by itself. Coolest thing you've ever done, gramps. I wasn't scared, I just smiled, because I knew...

The night I left the hospital with my brothers back in Febuary of 2001, I leaned in for a kiss from him and he turned my head and whispered in my ear how beautiful I was and that he loved me. He passed away in the middle of the night, that night. I never saw him again, but I can't think of a more amazing last memory than that.

My grandpa was a stubborn man and I'm proud to say I'm no different.