Memorial Day!

Today, let's take a moment to remember those that have served our country, and especially the many that have died in that service. Those lives are the foundation of this country, they are the people who make our freedoms possible. Thank you!

My grandfather served in World War II, and today I am reflecting on so many happy memories of him. He didn't go overseas, and a part of me is glad for this, because if he had I may not have had the pleasure of spending so much time with him. I am blessed in that as a child we essentially lived in my grandparent's backyard. I spent many days with my grandpa, when he wasn't away working.

It seems that most of my favorite memories of him involve the garden. Growing up, we always had a huge garden. I have many happy memories of both my grandparents in the garden, but with my grandpa I remember picking strawberries, and the long sticks with cans that he made so we could harvest the fruit in the trees without an orchard ladder. (I'm not really sure why we never had an orchard ladder, we had many fruit trees.) I also remember the year we planted corn. We may have done it more than once, but I only remember once. That year my grandfather taught me about how tasty baby corn is, my grandma wasn't thrilled about this!

Ah...The garden. Some of my funniest memories of him are in the garden too. He used to sit out in a lawn chair with his pistol and shoot at the gophers. I think it was somehow therapeutic to him. The thing my husband still laughs about, and teases me about, is that when I was really little my grandfather convinced me that little girls could be pulled down into gopher holes by the gopher. He told me my only defense was to put my arms out so they couldn't pull me all the way down and shout gopher so they could come rescue me. We had many "Gopher Drills". He would shout gopher and I would put my arms out as quickly as I could. There was a part of me that is embarrassed by how silly I was, but I realize more all the time how my grandfather's sense of humor is part of my heritage.

A heritage I'm proud to be part of. It is gratifying to see how it passes down in the generations. I see quite a bit of my grandfather's sense of humor in my youngest daughter. She just makes me laugh, but she has that same dry wit. I see him in myself when I get obsessed with a topic and can't stop researching it, or when I find yet another thing I'm interested in. He had a quick wit, he was well read, and he had a playful side I have really come to appreciate. Thank you grandpa, for being such an important part of my life, and future.