8 Minute Memoir, Day 27: Grandparents

"Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do.  Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children." --Alex Haley

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My siblings and cousins and I are definitely blessed with the love of our grandpa.  There were a lot of things that made my childhood a fun one, filled with learning and imagination and adventure, but my grandpa had a large role in making that a reality.  My paternal grandparents passed away before I was born, and my grandma passed away when I was really young and my brother was a baby.  In a way, I have always felt like he loved and supported me enough for all of my grandparents.  Every girl should be so fortunate!

Seriously, I have so many awesome memories from being a kid that include my grandpa in some way.  I loved going over to his house and spent many afternoons there playing with various old school toys that had been around forever (like the Fisher Price barn) and all kinds of board games, looking at all of the stuff, the relics, in the basement storage room... sliding down the stairs to the basement on cushions, playing outside in the yard, cautiously exploring the foundation of the burned down barn just to the east of the house (even though I have a feeling we probably shouldn't have been doing that), learning to ride my bike on the long shallow hill of his driveway.  I first learned how to drive in a pick up truck on empty country roads dancing through corn fields and acres of soybeans, my grandpa in the passenger seat.

Living far enough away from my family that I don't get to see them all the time is probably one of my least favorite things about being an adult, though I do positively love the life that we have built out here in the city by the lake.  I wish I was able to see my grandpa more often, but I'm so lucky to have all of these memories in the meantime.