GRANDPA AND THE GOOD OLE DAYS

"GRANDPA AND THE GOOD OLE DAYS" is how the song goes...tell me about the good ole days.

Well, my "good ole days" with Grandpa were every July 27th & July 28th. My two Grandpa's birthdays were side by side. They weren't the same age. And they were so different as Grandpa too.

My first Grandpa worked at a coal company. His job was to oil all the draglines and heavy equipment. Hard to imagine but he never missed a day of work, not even when we had the snow blizzard of 1978.

There never was a day gone by without stopping in to see my Grandpa when he got off of work. He worked on cars at his garage for people. He also worked on my bicycle fixing my tires. After fixing my tires he taught me how to ride my bike backwards. Trust me... he was much better doing so than me. As I learn how to drive he always preached to me the first lesson about a car, you can let it run out of gas but never let it run out of oil.

My Grandpa sure could be a character when he wanted to, but overall he loved all of his children and grandchildren. I was the third grandchild in the family among many others down the line.

I always made sure he got his birthday card every July 27th as he loved to see his cards.

My second Grandpa... many years my Mother's family got together and had a birthday dinner for Grandpa. We always tried to have his birthday dinner on Sunday as he owned a Phillips 66 Station. The station was closed on Sunday.

I had a different sort of granddaughter relationship with Grandpa, I was the only granddaughter out of six grandsons. Yes, he did spoil me. My Mother always said after a Sunday visit back home that she couldn't do anything with me as Grandpa spoiled me. He held me as a baby most of the day. I meant the world to him & him to me. As I grew older, there were many Sundays he took me to his family to show me off. Again, I was the only granddaughter. As I would go home on Sunday evenings he always made sure he gave me a couple dollars folded up.
I was in the eighth grade of school when he just had to buy me a new bike. Can you believe an eighth grader still riding a Sting Ray bike ? Not in todays world ! Grandpa was so proud of buying this new bike for me. It was a Schwinn Sting Ray and they were the new thing that year. We walked from his station to the bike shop and as I rode that bike out of the shop, he couldn't have been prouder. That was the last thing my Grandpa ever did for me as he passed away that fall. That year happened to be 1964 and here we are today 2009 and I still have that Sting Ray bike with the original tires, flower basket, banana seat and high handle bars. I just can't seem to part with it.

I also made sure Grandpa got his birthday cards too.

Yes, Grandpa and the good ole days !
Again, both of my Grandpa's were different but yet alike in many ways as they both loved their children and grandchildren.

So, every July 27th and July 28th I go back into time thinking of the "good ole days" with Grandpa. Here is to each...HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA !!!

CROSS STITCH WOMAN