Yesterday my grandfather turned 91. As I sit here and ponder his life, I can't even fathom what he's seen; he was born in 1923... I've always been fascinated with his stories of his life on the farm with 10 siblings. Life in during The Great Depression, before WWII, television, and when a man's word was his bond. I can't even imagine life without the complexities of technology.
Wonder how he's lived so long? I have too. Maybe it's because he didn't smoke or drink alcohol. I was curious about this earlier in my life, so I asked him about it. His response was simple and so easy to understand. He said he just never had the desire or need to. After he gave me that clear-cut answer he followed it with a short story. A story that I hold dear- one I would like to share in honor of his day.
As I stated before, my grandfather grew up on a farm in Nebraska. There were 11 children and not a lot of money, in fact, the entire area was depressed... this was during The Great Depression. My grandpa would watch one of his friends steal cigarette butts from the old men smoking out front of the general store and it piqued my grandfather's interest. He decided he would like to try a cigarette because that's what men did, but he was not about to steal. He found a dime one Saturday and snuck off to the general store to by tobacco and rolling papers (which only cost a nickel- amazing) He hid his treasures in his pants and went home. The next day he and that boy (that was stealing butts) snuck off on the way to church and hid on the back side of a hill. The boy rolled them both a cigarette (because my grandfather had no idea what he was doing) they lit their cigarettes and my grandpa said he took one drag and thought surely he was going to die, but he took one more drag just to be sure. He was immediately sick; he decided right then and there he would not ever smoke again... and he hasn't. He gave the remainder of the tobacco and the rolling papers to that boy (who I'm sure was very grateful that he would not have to be smoking butts for a while).
I think his secret to longevity all comes down to happiness. He has always been positive about life. No matter how hard things have gotten for him (and believe me, there were many rough spots) he has kept his head up and just kept going. Unfortunately he lost his wife (my grandmother) of 67 years, earlier this year and I honestly believe his happiness went with her, but he is still taking one day at time- trying to hold it together for us. He doesn't want to celebrate his birthday because he doesn't want to be a bother, and really just doesn't want to be here anymore. He's ready to move on and it breaks my heart, but I hope he gets his wish... it is after all his birthday.
Today we celebrate him and his life, his hardships, and his joys.
Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!
