Dear Grandpa

SYRACUSE -- He was full of odd surprises. I remember the morning in March when I walked into the kitchen and spotted Grandpa quietly trying to get a raw egg to stand on its own. “What are you doing?” I asked. He proudly explained – he loved it when I didn’t know – that you could balance an egg on a flat surface on the first day of spring. Moments later, he proved it to be true.
Whenever I am miserably stressed, I think of Grandpa and his patient spirit. I think of him slowly shuffling down the hallway, into the kitchen, where he would sip coffee at dawn and read the paper. I think of him scanning coins on E-bay for hours and hours, perpetually fascinated, and of him snoring while taking naps in his recliner. I think of his magnificent garden and 40-year-old compost bin, his 61-year-long marriage to Grandma, his cat that lived to be 19 (he cooked chicken livers for her on the stove every morning). I remember him telling me, over and over again, “Haste makes waste,” as I buzzed around the house, regularly bumping into furniture and spilling my drink.
And I think of him balancing that silly egg, on that lovely March morning – and it gives me a feeling of peace.
My grandfather, a lifelong Indiana resident, passed away two years ago. Today, Sept. 26, he would have turned 88.
Happy birthday, Grandpa. I miss you. (JM)