a letter to my 90 year old grandfather

Dear PawPaw,

First of all, Happy Happy Birthday! I dearly wish we could be there to celebrate with you. You are in our prayers and I know your special day will bring countless blessings.

My favorite memories of you include your fantastic wit. Many times I remember you telling a joke and getting right in the middle of it and giggling so hard you can barely finish the punch line. You have so many rich experiences and you tell a story like no one else. Jim and I both love to hear them. Your memory is incredible and when you tell a story about something that happened many years ago, all the details are still there, as if it was just yesterday.

In today’s world qualities like yours are rare. You come from an era when times were not easy, but your ability to make sacrifices, your incredible strength, and unfailing work ethic proved to be what was needed to get through it. You live by the code that that truth is king and that doing the right thing is not “just an option”.

When I look at your hands and think of all they have accomplished, I am in awe. How many times have your hands flipped through the pages of your Bible? Or the song book at church? How many seeds have your hands planted so that your family could eat? How much sweat has the back of your hand wiped from your brow? Just how many babies have your hands held? And how many fish hooks have your hands baited for your grandchildren? How many cuts and bruises have your hands had to endure? Those same hands that have done so many things have also given an immeasurable amount of love over the last ninety years.

You are a man I truly admire. I love you, PawPaw!