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i never knew my grandfathers. they had both passed away long before i was born. i have a couple of old photographs of one of them. nothing of the other.
i don’t know their stories. i know absolutely nothing about them. i wish i did.
my dad wasn’t much on family history. i don’t have any memories of him sitting down with me and telling me stories of his father. he wasn’t real good on talking. maybe it was just the era. maybe it was just the way men were back then. at least that’s what i’ve always told myself.
i suppose it minimizes the sting.
i made some decisions years ago that i would try to do better with my boys. i would try to tell them stories and help them remember things that were important in their childhood. in my childhood. i always wanted to give them a sense of connection. a sense of history.
that’s one of the reasons i started to blog. writing is a way to get to know people. writing is a way to get to know ourselves. writing is a way to preserve history. my writing is one thing i can leave behind. so i’ve decided to leave some things behind for my grandsons, holden and nolan.
children are sponges. their learning curves are intense. every day is full of wonder. so i’m going to pass on some grandfather insights. some truth, as i have seen it and experienced it, from the road i travel. some genuine papiwisdom. maybe there will be something worth passing on to some of the weebles in your lives.
so here comes a short letter today. i plan to write you guys weekly. maybe even more often.
dear holden and nolan…you have both been given an amazing gift. each other.i didn’t have any brothers or sisters. i was an only child. there were things about being an only child that were pretty cool: my own room…undivided attention from my mom and dad…lots of presents…i almost always got what i wanted… never had to share with anybody…and a bunch of other things.but i never had a brother. so when your daddy got a brother (your uncle corey), it was pretty amazing…and really new territory for me. i didn’t know how to help them become brothers. they had to learn on their own. i tried my best to give them tips and help them work out their problems, but most of the time, they just figured it out.and you guys will have to figure it out for yourselves, too.but here’s a little advice i can give you: you will never have a better friend than your brother. so stand by each other. don’t neglect each other. make time to be with each other. because someday, you will need each other.grow wise, grasshoppers.papi
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