my papa - photobooth friday

this past weekend we had a memorial for my grandfather. when my grandma pulled out the above photo i knew andrea would flip out, and that i'd have to post it for photobooth friday.

my mind has been flooded with memories of my grandfather and i have been thinking about what i wanted to say about him. i re-read something that i wrote last year and i don't think i can really do any better. it was too hard and too raw to post it last year - but i think i'm willing to share it now... so..... here goes:

In one of those very weird twists of life – I started writing this remembrance of papa on the day that he died… while I was riding the bus. Apparently he had died just a few hours before, but I wouldn’t know that until 6pm that night.

There once was a little girl who was much more quiet and shy than she is now. She used to love to spend time with her papa (she was responsible for the name – couldn’t say grandpa when she started talking). They would often ride around LA in his car (the most memorable one ~ a brown Celica). In the car were punch label signs in red about wear your seatbelt, the alternative is deadly (oh how he loved to label! Everything had his name inked {what did he do before sharpies??} or engraved into it: S.S., Sid Solomon, Sidney, King Sol). He would sing her songs about red being on top – it means stop stop stop, green below means go, go, go, yellow in the middle means wait a little… He would teach her how mispronounce (but accurately spell) Sepulveda (SEP-HUL-VEEDA), aluminum (AL-YOO-MIN-E-UM), cinnamon (SIN-A-MUM-MUM-MUM).

They would drive to get secrets (shhh – code word for donut – his favorite was jelly, she didn’t have a favorite). He would let her be the ball girl at some of his tennis games. He once took her to kid’s theatre (this was normally Grammy’s job) and fell asleep snoring LOUDLY… she elbowed him in the ribs to wake him and would forever joke that he couldn’t take her to anything unless he promised not to fall asleep. He took her sailing on his boat. He tied her in knots (he was so strong. Strong and Proud). He’d let her win in gin rummy (but not too often). They’d play black jack for pennies. He shot pool with her (this is how you put English on the ball). Any game that made you think was good. He loved coming up with puzzles for her to solve (can you draw this picture only lifting your pen 3 times? More recently he was captivated as she tried to figure out how many 5 1/4” felt tanks she would need to cover a 12’ x 12’ wall – how big of a space do you want between them? What kind of pattern are you making? How are you adhering them?)

She would watch as he fixed things – why buy a new one when you can fix this one? If you can take it apart you can put it back together. Why pay someone when you can do it yourself? He taught her so well that she can now fix things. One of his favorite tools was the rubber band. Big ones. Almost anything could be made better with a rubber band – your wallet, your lamp (because you could use a rubber band to attach an old medicine bottle to it – to hold pens of course!), your key ring, you could keep all your bills/important papers together (who needs a filing cabinet?)…

He told good stories about the Navy. He told good stories in general. So good she couldn’t believe them (unless she got the nod of yes from Grammy, or until she got old enough to tell them right back). He once tried to convince her that Smirnoff the vodka was really called Smirtorchnoff because they were using a picture of a torch for an “i” in their ad campaign… Smirtorchnoff was just too long to fit on the billboard. He was quick witted and sharp tongued (traits she also found and loves in her husband). He was a character – if you met him he wanted you to remember him…. Because of what he said (he could talk about almost anything), because of how he acted (he demanded and gave respect), because of his talking watch, because of the butterscotch he gave you…. Just remember. He loved catch phrases (his or anyone’s): if I’m up everybody’s up, how’s the baby (his tummy), pretty good chicken mom, show and tell time, let’s go to YOUR favorite restaurant (which was Changs – and it was his, not anyone else’s), humph harrumph humph (your head must be tilting back and forth while you say this. And you must be the last one to humph)…

As the little girl grew older in many ways her papa grew younger…. He needed much more help with things as he couldn’t see or hear so well. She laughed as he couldn’t believe she could run so many errands in an hour, or move his computer monitor on her own (it’s too heavy!). She was quite pleased that he would allow her to help him. Recently she cut chicken for him while they were out at dinner. He wasn’t going to admit that he couldn’t see or cut the meat and thus she tried to do it on the sly so that he wouldn’t be embarrassed. He always seemed to enjoy kibitzing with her – and she was glad to give Grammy a bit of a break (he could be quite demanding of her if not anyone else!)

Although she is quite sad that she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye, she is grateful that he was such a big part of her life. She has so many good memories of time spent with her papa. She was and always will be his #1 granddaughter. She always felt like she was #1 with him. She knows she just has to think of him for him to be with her.

Papa I will miss your wet kisses and big hugs…

have a great weekend i'll be back with drawings on monday....