He told me not to wear boxers...


Yes, my Granddaddy gave me a lecture on why I shouldn't wear boxer shorts. He said a man needed support! I know it sounds funny but he cared. That's what some people didn't understand about him, he may have come across harsh but he cared.

I thought the man "walked on water". He seemed to know everything. He seemed to have all the answers. He was my best friend. I remember the time he spent making toy trucks and cars out of scrap pieces of wood so we could play like he used to. I remember how he took up for us boys when we were caught looking at some "dirty" pictures he had hid in his drawer. I remember how he let me go to work with him almost every summer. He was everything to me.

Then one day he went to the doctor and they said he had skin cancer. He listened to the doctor's advice and had a skin graft done on his face to remove this cancer. It went well and he healed well. This was not the end...

Cancer was found in his lungs next. He took radiation for a while and it seemed to work. The cancer was in remission. This was not the end...

It did not go away, it spread. It eventually spread to other parts including his brain...

I watched the strongest man I know fade into a withering shell. He left us slowly. I used to sit up with him at night while Granny slept. It was devastating to watch him stair at me with his eyes watering, wanting to say something but couldn't. To see him go from working on cars to being straw fed was defeating. He left us in 1999. I have never felt such hurt or pain. I lost my grandfather. I lost my mentor. I lost my best friend.

If there was ever a time I need his words, his hug, his presence....it's now.