Today is my grandfather's 91st birthday, and we celebrated the occasion yesterday at my aunt Beckie's house. I remember giving him those Santa suspenders years ago, and he always wears them at Christmastime. My grandmother never goes anywhere without having her hair properly fixed and her lipstick on, and is usually wearing something sparkly. She has clip-on earrings and matching pins for every imaginable occasion, and always smells like perfume. She is the matriarch of the family, and wears the role well. 
My Grandaddy is a wonderful man. He has known great hardship and loss in his life: growing up during the depression in a large family; the death of his first child from leukemia back when there was no way to even attempt to treat the disease; the stillbirth of his second child; the death of his first wife from tuberculosis when she was pregnant with their third child. At age 26, he met my grandmother, and they married just six weeks later. Sixty-four years, four children, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren later, they are still married. Lord knows it hasn't been easy, but I believe his previous losses made him even more committed to my grandmother and their marriage.
Our time with the family yesterday was a whole lot of fun. Kathryn was very excited to play with my aunt Culline's little dog Shug, one of the puppies from this post. Elvis was on TV, and that got my aunt and my grandmother talking about the time they went to see him in concert here in Atlanta. (I think my mom may have been pregnant with me at the time, so she didn't go.) Gran was talking about how close they were to him, and how her sister just sat and cried the entire time because she loved Elvis so much. Gran also said that many of the ladies would throw their bras up on stage and Elvis would wipe a little sweat from his brow with them and then throw them back. This got a hilariously funny dialog going on, and my cousin Shannon and I were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe. The mere presence of her husband Robert (wearing a custom-made t-shirt that says "hispanic causing panic") somehow elevates the mundane to hysterically funny; I think it's his reactions to things, like my proper elderly grandmother talking about Elvis and bras.
We tried to get a nice photo of my grandparents and their four children, but by that time everybody was being so doggone silly, and then my cousin Windee started acting like a total nut behind the camera so everyone was laughing too hard to behave. This was harder than photographing little kids!!!
Meanwhile, Kathryn and her cousin Walker made a gingerbread house for Grandaddy. Anyone who entered the kitchen was sworn to secrecy so it would be a surprise. Kathryn is doing a fabulous job of supervising in this photo! 
But she soon jumped in to help, and they both ended up coated in icing! The collaboration resulted in a cute house in the end, and they carried it into the living room together and sang "Happy Birthday" to Grandaddy.
I love that Kathryn knows her Great-Gran and Grandaddy. What a blessing that is! And how few kids have such a blessing. The week she was born, my Grandaddy had to have quadruple bypass heart surgery, and my grandparents hadn't been feeling well enough to come to the hospital to meet Kathryn, so I remember wondering if they'd ever get to see her. Even after his surgery and a good prognosis, I wondered whether they'd live long enough for her to remember them.
No one but our heavenly Father knows how many days any of us has on this earth, but I am thankful for my grandparents, thankful for my crazy family, and thankful that we are making memories like these.
My Grandaddy is a wonderful man. He has known great hardship and loss in his life: growing up during the depression in a large family; the death of his first child from leukemia back when there was no way to even attempt to treat the disease; the stillbirth of his second child; the death of his first wife from tuberculosis when she was pregnant with their third child. At age 26, he met my grandmother, and they married just six weeks later. Sixty-four years, four children, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren later, they are still married. Lord knows it hasn't been easy, but I believe his previous losses made him even more committed to my grandmother and their marriage.Our time with the family yesterday was a whole lot of fun. Kathryn was very excited to play with my aunt Culline's little dog Shug, one of the puppies from this post. Elvis was on TV, and that got my aunt and my grandmother talking about the time they went to see him in concert here in Atlanta. (I think my mom may have been pregnant with me at the time, so she didn't go.) Gran was talking about how close they were to him, and how her sister just sat and cried the entire time because she loved Elvis so much. Gran also said that many of the ladies would throw their bras up on stage and Elvis would wipe a little sweat from his brow with them and then throw them back. This got a hilariously funny dialog going on, and my cousin Shannon and I were laughing so hard we couldn't breathe. The mere presence of her husband Robert (wearing a custom-made t-shirt that says "hispanic causing panic") somehow elevates the mundane to hysterically funny; I think it's his reactions to things, like my proper elderly grandmother talking about Elvis and bras.
We tried to get a nice photo of my grandparents and their four children, but by that time everybody was being so doggone silly, and then my cousin Windee started acting like a total nut behind the camera so everyone was laughing too hard to behave. This was harder than photographing little kids!!!
Meanwhile, Kathryn and her cousin Walker made a gingerbread house for Grandaddy. Anyone who entered the kitchen was sworn to secrecy so it would be a surprise. Kathryn is doing a fabulous job of supervising in this photo! But she soon jumped in to help, and they both ended up coated in icing! The collaboration resulted in a cute house in the end, and they carried it into the living room together and sang "Happy Birthday" to Grandaddy. I love that Kathryn knows her Great-Gran and Grandaddy. What a blessing that is! And how few kids have such a blessing. The week she was born, my Grandaddy had to have quadruple bypass heart surgery, and my grandparents hadn't been feeling well enough to come to the hospital to meet Kathryn, so I remember wondering if they'd ever get to see her. Even after his surgery and a good prognosis, I wondered whether they'd live long enough for her to remember them. No one but our heavenly Father knows how many days any of us has on this earth, but I am thankful for my grandparents, thankful for my crazy family, and thankful that we are making memories like these.
