Circle of Life

I am pregnant with my first child. My grandfather only has 24-48 hours to live.

My sister, mom, and I went to visit my grandparents two weeks ago. I am so thankful for that visit. Papa had just gotten home from the hospital. At 91 years old, and with steadily declining health, he looked frail. Tiny, even. But he was still extremely sharp mentally.

I sat next to him on the couch for the better part of two hours as he talked to me about his life. Papa loves to talk. We talked about his latest hospital stay. We talked about his health. Then he told me all about his life during the Great Depression. He told me about driving up to Skyline Drive in Virginia, because it was the only place he could find work. He was 18 years old. He spent a couple of years planting trees and flowers to beautify the area. I think it’s neat to know that some of the trees that stand tall on Skyline Drive today were planted by a teenaged Papa almost 80 years ago. He was filled with pride when he told me about that job. He smiled as he said, “I just love to work.”

We talked about World War II (in which he served) and about General Patton. Oh, he told me all kinds of conspiracies about Patton’s death. Then he asked me about my life- my husband, my pets, my job, my baby. I am so thankful that I had the chance to tell Papa about my pregnancy. He knew we tried for a really, really long time. The day I called my grandparents to tell them the news, Grandma put me on hold and yelled, “Hey Papa! Kerri’s pregnant!” Papa has been hard of hearing for a couple of decades now, so I wasn’t necessarily expecting a response. But then, loud and clear in the background I heard, “Hooray!” What a blessing. Since Papa’s health had been declining for a while, I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever have the chance to tell him I was pregnant.

As we wrapped up our conversation, Papa mentioned that his 92nd birthday would be coming up in July. Then he paused to look at me. “But, I don’t think…” he began. Then he shook his head. “Nevermind. I won’t say that.” He knew. And he was ready.

There are certain things about Papa I will remember all of my life.

I'll remember his love for baseball. He is the only person I know other than Matt that could watch baseball all day every day and consider that time well spent. Plus, he could recite seemingly every historic baseball fact known to mankind.

I'll remember his jokes. Hands down, Papa was one of the funniest people I've ever known. Sometimes the jokes were at Grandma's expense, but they were all in good humor. And he laughed hard at his own jokes too.

I'll remember every single soccer game I played in and looked over to see him standing on the sidelines cheering me on. In fact, he was there the day I scored my very first goal.

I'll remember Christmas mornings. My brother, sister, and I always paced eagerly upstairs waiting for Papa to finish shaving so we could go downstairs and look at our gifts. It never crossed his mind to have Christmas morning stubble!

I'll remember the way he loved to watch us open gifts on Christmas morning. He loved when we got stuffed animals; he always had a knack for picking out names that suited these animals. I stopped trying to name them on my own. As soon as I got a stuffed animal, I'd take it over to Papa and wait for it to be named. My favorite, George, still sits in my bedroom today.

I'll remember countless days sitting at the kitchen table playing "Go Fish" with Grandma and Papa. This was such a simple, carefree game we played together but easily one of my favorite memories.

I'll remember the way Papa danced at my sister's wedding! It was so much fun seeing him on the dance floor doing the twist all the way down to the floor. And though he couldn't dance at my wedding, I will always remember the hug we shared shortly before I walked down the aisle.

I'll remember all of our beach trips to Emerald Isle when Grandma and Papa were able to tag along. Papa loved the beach. His favorite part was watching the sandpipers dodge the ocean. He thought it was hysterical to watch their tiny little legs run frantically away as a wave closed in.

I'll remember how particular Papa was about clothes- his and everyone else's. If I wore a pair of designer jeans to visit Grandma and Papa, you can bet that he would notice (and compliment them) right away. He'd also ask Grandma to shine his shoes every time he knew we were coming to visit.

I'll remember hearing Papa sing "Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me". I'll also remember one of his favorite expressions: "Well, I'll be John Brown!"

I'll remember that no matter how old I got, I was never too old to sit on Papa's lap.

I'll remember Papa the athlete. That man was in outstanding physical shape, well into his eighties. He used to be an avid jogger and then, as the years wore on, he started walking. Anyone who knows Papa knows that long walks were an important part of his life and something that brought him a lot of happiness.

Really, there's so much I'll remember about Papa that it's unbelievably difficult to imagine a world without him. He was so many things: a retired truck driver, a World War II vet, an animal lover, a baseball fanatic, an amateur comedian, and he was passionately opinionated (if he could quit smoking cold-turkey after 40 years, then anything was possible, he'd always say). But most importantly, I'll remember Papa the family man. He was a devoted husband to my Grandma, a loving father to three sons, and a perfect grandfather. He was the definition of a class act.