My Grandpa...

I have this sweet little birdie that someone special bought just for me...
to remind me of someone else that was very special:

Grandpa.

I love it.
I loved him.
It makes me happy to wear it.
Grandpa was born April 1, 1898.
(He never liked having an April Fool's birthday!)
I wish I could have known him as an adult.
He was the smartest man I ever knew.
His mother abandoned the family when Grandpa was only three.
His sisters and dad raised him on the farm.

This is the farmhouse grandpa's father built, making each cement block himself. When his wife left around 1901, the home was unfinished. It still remains unfinished, even though great grandpa lived out his life here.

He grew up, and went to learn to be a teacher.
He taught in a one room schoolhouse.
(Once, when he was outside playing with the kids at recess--yes, teachers then did it all!--he punted the football, and it went straight down the school chimney and exploded in the wood stove!)
He went on to Michigan State, back when it was an agricultural college .
He got his degree in addition to having a wife and children.
He found a place to teach, to raise a family.
He built a house in the post-war era, salvaging materials and saving for it.

This is the home grandpa built himself with the help of salvaged materials.

He never whined about his life, even though it handed him some rough times.

His wife died in the prime of their lives of breast cancer, leaving him with five children.

He finished raising them, even though he had a complete breakdown with grief and stress related to his wife's long illness and subsequent death.

He was the hardest worker, and the most knowledgeable man on so many subjects I can hardly believe it.

He read a lot.

He was WISE.

He had a twinkle in his eye and a ready laugh.

I liked how he scratched his head as he walked away, the way he walked, with purpose.

Grandpa was not only a smart man, he had tons of common sense.

And Grandpa always said he'd rather die happy than skip dessert.

He retired and deserved it after a long, long career in education that saw him as a teacher, administrator, superintendent, coach, anything the little school needed, he could do it.

When he retired, he went right back to work, and having planned ahead, had a nursery business and an antique business from his home place.

He grew the most beautiful flowers and landscaped his yard to perfection.

I loved seeing him on his old Ford tractor that he used for his nursery work.

His antique business wasn't just buying and selling, he remade and refinished and re-tooled or re-manufactured anything to do with old furniture and furnishings in his workshop.

He always said there was plenty of job security if you could get your snout in the government's trough.

(Grandpa's career was BEFORE the unions took over our schools.)

In addition to being a charming seller and shopkeeper, he could tell you stories about all the items he bought and sold, because he lived his life using these pieces.

I miss grandpa, and I always will hold him in the highest esteem.

And, I'll eat dessert today and remember him.