Grandpa and the Pucker String

Original post: August 17, 2021

Everyone loves Grandpa. He isn’t blood to us but closer to us than most blood relation. We claim him as our own. And we love him dearly.

Grandpa used to live in Florida until just recently. He’s getting up in age now so he moved up here to be closer to family. He misses Florida though.

Grandpa taught us to play dice and golf, a card game. So when he visited or we visited him, we’d spend hours playing these games. A game wasn’t complete without him saying, “Winner and Champ-een…” and circling the winner’s name on the tablet and adding a star.

Grandpa loves movies too. Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones are a few he enjoyed watching with the kids when they were still at home. He has a few of his own favorites. Silverado, I think, is the first he mentions when asked. I got him to watch Return to Me with me once, and well…he cried. It’s now one of his favorites as well.

Many years ago, in the summer of 2006, when we all lived under one roof still, Grandpa came up to visit for a couple of weeks. We had a lot of fun with that visit. And we kept him busy.

We celebrated the 4th of July, his birthday in August, and a baking day. He built a bookcase for me, drank a lot of coffee, played poker with the kids, watched a ton of movies, more card playing and dice…

…and then, he got sick.

We aren’t exactly sure what bothered his stomach so much. No one else had it. But he had nausea and the hersey squirts pretty bad. And it lasted about a week and a half. He still tried to have a good time. He never threw up but he carried a wastebasket around…just in case. The trash can become his buddy so he named it Wilson from the movie Castaway. Because of his issue on the other end he told the kids he lost his “pucker string”. Don’t make me explain that one to you.

Grandpa would set Wilson on a bar stool next to him when we played games. He’d have to leave the table several times but he’d always come back with a couple of jokes. He’s a good humored grandpa.

When Grandpa went home, it was really sad. So I decided to put this scrapbook together so he’d always remember the great time we had together.

He laughed when he received it at his home in Florida. I bet he even had some tears. That’s just the beautiful man he is. And when he got to missing us he’d pull out the book to look at and laugh all over again. Especially with that surprise ending.

Now that Grandpa is up here and getting older he asked me to keep the book. I have it now. What a wonderful keepsake.

The pucker string is a continued fun topic. It just doesn’t get old. That’s the humor in my family.

I hope you enjoyed this special memory of mine. It’s a pleasantry to recall the good times in our life. It’s also nice to share them.

Have a wonderful weekend. ♥️

Andi

I enjoyed creating the this scrapbook for Grandpa. It was a treasured visit with him. All the pics are taken from the book so please ignore the glare. I didn’t want to remove the pages.