that guy

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dear grandpa,

you would have been 93 a couple days ago.  i don't think there was one of us that doubted that you would still be around and going strong, even at 93.  i would have bet that you would still be doing pull-ups if it weren't for that stupid illness that took you so soon.  you were the one that could do anything, fix anything, invent anything, and love anything....even us, when we weren't so lovable. 

this is the time of year, when you made your rounds to our office and delivered dahlias that you grew.  they were the size of plates.  it was just one of the few things that you gave.  in fact, i can't think of a time when you didn't come bringing gifts for people. 

i was at the bank yesterday and the lady who was the teller saw my last name and said that she knew you.  she said that you were the nicest man she'd ever met.  that when you developed the land that she lived on and she started building her house, that you delivered a tree to every person that built a house in that subdivision.  she said it was so nice and did i know that you had donated all of the land that was in that area as a thank you to the governor of Colorado for not being put in internment camps during WWII.  yes, i knew.  then a girl that was younger than me started talking about you, said that she had met you and that you were amazing.  yes...i knew. 

we miss your antics.  the fact that when you patted someone on the back, you almost sent them into the next county because you "patted" them so hard.  the fact that you strapped on a pair of rollerblades at the age of 80 and took off.  the fact that you let barbie have horses and you took in my animals when i couldn't take them to college with me.  the fact that you sent nancy's sister cow balls for a joke....every year.  the fact that you did pull-ups in your house on a homemade bar, even when you were 88.  the fact that you took off one day at the age of 80 and decided that you would climb a mountain...and did.  the fact that you sent dirty cards to one of your friends, who also has passed and his daughter will call me laughing so hard because she found a new one in his desk. 

you were important, for a number of reasons, you met and mingled with very important people...but you were important to us because you were our grandpa.  it wouldn't have mattered to us who you knew or didn't know.  amazing?  yes....we know.