My grandpa

I love my grandparents tremendously! I have one I never met, one that passed away when I was young, one that lived a few hours away from me and one that lived next door and my family took care of. Not to mention the grandparents I received when my husband and I married.

I could spend hours talking about all of them. I was named after one ya know. So was my daughter. One set of grandparents had 9 kids, 8 of them girls. What stories they must have been able to tell :)

I want to talk tonight about my grandpa though: Papa. He was such a wonderful man. I can remember him teaching us how to go about bottle feeding a calf or how to make sure we did everything we could to be as frugal as possible (yes folks the cheapness I have runs in the family).

My papa knew the definition of hard work. At any given time he worked multiple jobs yet was always willing to give the shirt of his back to someone who needed it.

My papa had trees in his front yard where he would rest every afternoon. This is where he would offer visitors a seat when they happened to stop by. This is where we would hang on to every word as he was telling stories and what a good story teller he was!

As papa got older he suffered from Alzheimers . My family took turns taking care of him along with my aunts family and my papa's brother. Before he passed away it became nearly impossible to take care of him so he was placed in a home for Alzheimers patients.

I know that nursing homes bring up strong emotions in people and that is neither here nor there right now. It was a last resort for my family and yet somethings that had to be done. Thank goodness it was close to where we live.

My family took turns visiting the Alzheimers home. Boy was that an experience. As crazy as it sounds I liked it there. It was a chance to reach out to people who needed it. I heard wonderful stories about many a childhood. They enjoyed the company that we were able to provide as well as the occasional visit from our family dog :) It was always a great experience to see someone's face light up from bringing them something as simple as a soft drink. The people who worked there were good people who loved my papa dearly.

if you ever get a chance to visit someone in a nursing home please do. It is more beneficial than you realize. I came across this article tonight that describes how wonderful this experience is. Check it out here.