I love my Granddaddy

It is only fitting that this celebration of my Granddaddy's life is happening on a Sunday afternoon. I have spent almost all of the Sunday afternoons of my life with my Granddaddy. He always cooked the most elaborate amazing meals on Sunday afternoons for our family and anyone who wanted to join us. There were times when we would have 30 people from our youth group eating lunch with my Granddaddy after church! Even when he was too sick to stand, and mom or I would bring food over, he would still pull up a chair and cook something for us. There will not be a single day (especially Sundays) that goes by that I will not miss my Granddaddy until I see him again in Heaven. He has touched SO many lives, and it has been a blessing to our family to hear all the kind things everyone has said about him in the past couple of days. I hope he will be able to see now how much he was loved by everyone that knew him. He was incredibly humble, and every time I would tell him how wonderful he was, he was laugh dismissively and say that I must be confusing him with someone else. As long as I can remember (even longer, by what I'm told).. I have always been a "Granddaddy's girl." He always said we had to make up for lost time because when I was born, he had shingles, and he couldn't hold me for several weeks. There are pictures of him looking in the screen door at me when they'd come to visit. They said from the first time he held me, we have been attached at the hip. I am so thankful that I have had 26 years of being loved by one of the greatest men on earth. One of the saddest parts of all of this, and my only "regret" if you can call it that.... is that my children (if God decides to bless me with them one day) will not be able to know and be loved by Granddaddy.

My granddaddy was my real American hero. He dropped out of school in 6th grade to work on his family's farm. (Although, he later used part of his GI bill to go through "continuation school" when he returned from the war.) He was drafted into the Army when he was 18 to fight in World War II. He always said he was "just a poor ole plowboy" from Asbury, but I know better-- he was one of the richest, smartest, bravest men in the world! Until he was drafted, he had never been further than Gadsden, and he had to hitch a ride to Guntersville where his orders had him report to be transported to basic training. My granddaddy is the only person I can remember ever hearing about who actually gained weight during basic training! I can't imagine how scared he must have been headed from the farm across the world. When he was in the Army, he made stops at Fort Benning, Anniston, Kentucky, England, Germany, France and Belgium. Every time it got really cold outside, he would talk about how it was nothing compared to how cold he was around Christmas in 1944 when he was walking and sleeping in the knee-deep snow in Germany. He was great at helping me keep things in perspective, but he never did it in a condescending way. He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge on January 15, 1945...just 26 days after he officially entered combat. He was only 19 years old when he lost his right eye after being shot off the back of a tank. When he was shot, he had the wherewithal and courage to roll out of the tank tracks to avoid being run over and then follow the medic almost a mile to a safer place. He selflessly served our country and sacrificed so much for all of us... but that was just the beginning of his bravery.

He had a medical history list at least two pages long. He has had so many "scares"-- 3 heart attacks. Open heart surgery, 5 stents, hip replacement, knees, elbows, sinuses and several surgeries on the way to recovery from his eye replacement/reconstruction. He always pulled through it despite the long odds. So naturally, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in September, we believed that if anyone could beat it, he could. On Wednesday of this week, he was feeling much better than he had been feeling-- probably because he was receiving fluids and nutrition intravenously. He said "I believe I'm going to beat this after all, and then I'll be your poster-child for beating cancer in your 80s." He fought cancer about 7 months enduring malnutrition, dehydration, extreme weakness and nausea. He was a trooper until the very end... always trying to smile and stay positive, at least while I was around.

Of course, his military history is impressive and a huge source of pride for me, but it is NOT the main reason he was my hero. In fact, we rarely, if ever, talked about his service except maybe on the occasional veteran's day school project until his grandson-in-laws came along. He was my hero because he loved more than anyone I have ever known. I have learned so much from him over the years, and I will try to be more like him every day.

He taught me to always think of others before thinking of myself. He always said it was more important for him to make other people happy than to be happy himself, and I know firsthand that he lived that motto every single day. I know because I was usually the beneficiary! He was incredibly thoughtful in big and small ways. He wanted us to believe in ourselves... even as fishermen. He used to love fishing in his pond, and we would go fishing all the time. I thought I was the BEST fisherman on the planet! Little did I know, my confidence was artificially inflated because he went out to his pier every day and fed those fish at the same time that we would be fishing. He did that so the fish would be conditioned to come up and eat so when we had a lure in the water... they would eat that too. Seriously, one time I hadn't even dropped my worm all the way in the water and a fish jumped up and got it! Granddaddy just said I had a special touch :), and I believed him.... until I tried fishing later in life and didn't get a bite all day!

He taught me what to look for in a husband-- someone who gives selflessly and loves unconditionally. He served my Granny (some would call that "spoiled my Granny rotten") for 62 years, and he loved her so much it hurts. He cooked, cleaned, worked in the yard, drove her around delivering Avon. There is nothing he wouldn't do for her. He would cut and peel her an apple every day. He would cut and paint her toenails. I never heard him complain about doing something for her. He showed love by serving her, and boy, does their love story inspire! They met while he was working at a service station, and she was at the telephone company. It was something like love at first sight, and they were engaged 4 weeks after they met, married 2 weeks after that in July 1949. Through his selfless devotion, he taught me to give and love sacrificially, and I hope I can love half as much as he did.

He was a man who sacrificed anything/everything to make those around him happier. One of my favorite stories from the war was about Christmas night. He said that they were given some R&R around an old farmhouse. They were given chocolate bars, and he was so excited to be able to rest and relax and just enjoy some chocolate. Several of the men were wishing wistfully for some hot chocolate, and he overheard them. So he took his time of rest and went down to milk one of the cows, and he melted the chocolate bars in a cup over the fire to give his comrades a special Christmas gift! That is just the kind of man he was... he would rather see others happy than do what he wanted.

He taught me that it is better to give than to receive. Granddaddy was incredibly generous with both time and money. There is nothing that he would not do for me (or anyone for that matter). He would drop what he was doing any time I needed him. I remember in Kindergarten, I had a tough time making the transition of hanging out with my mom or grandparents during the day to full time school. So after about 2 weeks, I would cry every day around nap time until Mrs. Baugh would let me call my Granddaddy to pick me up. Until I could drive, Granddaddy picked me up everyday after school and took me to his house or wherever I had to go. He used to drive that old Aqua Oldsmobile and wear his "taxi driver hat" to pick us up and chauffeur us around town. I loved those afternoons where I would tell him all about my day while eating some special treat he had created just for me. They weren't basic either... always something fun and fancy like pears with whip cream and cherries on top or lime sherbet shakes or really anything I asked for! Not to mention the elaborate lunches or dinners he would cook. When I heard about a 4 course meal, I thought people were skimping because at Granddaddy's house, we sometimes had to have 2 plates to get just sample of everything he would cook for us! When I lived in Auburn or in Birmingham, he would send tubs full of food with me every time I left so my roommates could enjoy his goodies too. He always said he wished he could cook dinner for me everyday, and I wished it too!

And he was always trying to give me money. If I refused (which was almost impossible... he could be very persuasive!), he would just sneak it into my purse or cheerleading bag. I would pick it up and wonder what in the world happened because it would be 10 pounds heavier than when I brought it in the door because he had snuck rolls of quarters into my bag when I wasn't looking. When we needed a car, he gave us his. When we needed help with our down payment for our house, he never questioned it... just gave us what we needed. He was the most generous person I have ever known.

He was a thoughtful, servant-hearted man who loved his family and never held anything back. You never had to wonder how he felt about you. He always told you in word and deed that he loved you. At the hospital, he was so gracious to all of his nurses, and he told several of them that he loved them. On Thursday night, the last time he was awake... he told us to make sure we took $100 out of his drawer and bought all of his nurses at the cancer center and at the hospital some cupcakes, cookies and other treats that he had wanted to make for them, but hadn't had a chance. Some of the last things he said were, "I love you, and I know you love me, and that is all that really matters. I guess I've said all that I have to say!" And he had... he hadn't waited until his death bed either. He had told me how he felt his entire life, and lived a life with no regrets.

I want to be more like him everyday because I believe that he is one of the best examples of Jesus I have ever seen. Every time I told him that, he would be confused saying things like "well I don't even get to go to church any more or I don't know that much about the Bible... I just know that you're supposed to love everybody." I think that just made him an even purer example of Jesus. He was humble, and he understood the things that really matter. I think that our rules and doctrine can sometimes get in the way of loving people like Jesus did. We can even get so caught up in "church" that we miss the big picture. Granddaddy may not have been as "discipled" or educated on doctrine as he would have liked to have been, but he understood the biggest commands of all and lived them 100% of the time. When Jesus was asked the most important of his commandments, in Luke 10:27 "And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” I have NO doubt that Granddaddy did exactly that, and I am thankful to have a peace and know where Granddaddy is today. We are born sinful and selfish. There is no way, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, any man could love and serve his fellow man like Granddaddy did.

I have always known that God is Love. My Granddaddy helped me learn how much God must love us in a couple of different ways. God's love is perfect and so amazing. I cannot comprehend it fully with my tiny human mind, but watching Granddaddy suffer (especially during the past week, which is miniscule suffering compared to what he endured) I believe that allowed me to get to know my God a little better, and I'm trying so hard to be grateful for that. God-- divinely sovereign, in charge of ALL things in this life (very unlike me in my silly attempt in the control-freak nature I have!)-- willingly gave His one and only perfect, sinless Son to SUFFER and die. He could have easily changed things and took Jesus off the cross and back into Glory. But he didn't... for us. He could have easily taken away Granddaddy's pain, but he didn't, and I believe he allowed that suffering so we could understand him a little better and get another glimpse of His great love for us. On Tuesday, Granddaddy was told he could not have food or drink by mouth because he could no longer swallow properly, and he was aspirating food/drink into his lungs (causing the pneumonia), and he was struggling to breathe. It is hard to watch someone you love dehydrate, starve and suffocate. But our suffering was nothing new to our Savior. I know I do not have children yet, but I have always been told that as much as you love your parents, your husband, your siblings... you don't know anything about love until you hold your son or daughter. I cannot imagine how much God loved His Son, but I can only compare it to how much I love my Granddaddy, and I know I would have done ANYTHING in my power to end His suffering. God, with every ability to change it, ALLOWED His SON to suffer those same 3 things Granddaddy suffered and then some for a sinful race... for me. So we could have everlasting life united with our Savior. Glory to God. By His grace alone, we will see Granddaddy again one day. By His grace alone, we will get through this suffering and this loss. By His grace alone...

I will never forget the many wonderful memories I have with my Granddaddy-- the beach trips, the countless slumber parties, making play dough, building box houses, baking cookies or singing to him as he took his final breath. I will forever cherish every minute I spent in his loving arms, watching that easy smile, hearing his warm laughter. I am a much better person because of him, and I can only try to live a life that would make him proud. I think he would want his legacy to be one of love and generosity... making others happy. Please know that you were loved by him and take that love and share it with all of those you hold dear before it is too late. Remember that people cannot tell when you think about them... only when you act on those thoughts. Remember how much you were loved by one of the greatest men on earth and go and love everybody as much as you can in his memory.