Grandpa died, but not really
I woke up early this morning and was pondering my late Grandfather. I was feeling somewhat melancholy because I felt like there were things I wanted to talk to him about, but just never did. Then I realized I had just had been dreaming and that of course he was still alive and kicking about 7 miles down the road. In the dream, there was a courtyard in a secluded corner of a public space. There were trees and plantings and such. It was quite a nice little setup. There were concrete tombs everywhere and another platform in the entryway to this space that had Germany inscribed upon it and also Wilser in another place. I was standing there with my Dad, and his best friend Brian. Oddly enough we had walked here with a man named Roy Crowder and his 3 six foot tall monkeys, although they had disappeared at this point. Roy was a big man you see, so he had to have BIG monkeys. Yeah I know, this is a weird dream.
My grandfather is a genius you have to know. He could probably build you a Blu-Ray Player in a couple of days time just with spare parts he could find in his garage. He will also fix your car, or your clock, or your 747 if you have one. He started a little company called Raleigh Flying Service in 1969 which had over 100 employees at one time in it's tenure. He ran it as a family business for 30 years before finally selling it in 2000. He was an old IBM guy that worked to produce the bar code system way back when. Yeah, I'm talking about the bar code that is on every product you buy in any store in most of the free world. It's possible that he even reads this blog, so this is sort of weird because he might be following along with us right now.
When I was lying there in my bed this morning, I was thinking of things that I wished I had talked to him about. Things like faith and spirituality and what it was like to be involved in World War II. Did he have any cool stories from being there. Hey Grandpa, are you aware that you say cuss words under your breath in almost any situation, like especially when we're driving around trying to find a bathroom because you have to take a steamer? Jerry Bruckheimer could probably make an action movie around my Grandpa's style of cussing. He really is better at swearing than Clint Eastwood, and he never uses the f-bomb. I'm talking old style swearing....the kind that comes with your dignity included.
So anyway, I'm glad that grandpa is still around for a bit longer. He's a cool guy, but very reserved. Maybe he'll open up and talk to me one day. Maybe he'll talk about His thoughts on God, or life or whatever. I hope he does. But if not, I'll just have to embrace the mystery of a man who loved his family in his own way, and left his insides up for interpretation. Not everyone can be as open as this blog you know....Monkeys? Really Alan?
My grandfather is a genius you have to know. He could probably build you a Blu-Ray Player in a couple of days time just with spare parts he could find in his garage. He will also fix your car, or your clock, or your 747 if you have one. He started a little company called Raleigh Flying Service in 1969 which had over 100 employees at one time in it's tenure. He ran it as a family business for 30 years before finally selling it in 2000. He was an old IBM guy that worked to produce the bar code system way back when. Yeah, I'm talking about the bar code that is on every product you buy in any store in most of the free world. It's possible that he even reads this blog, so this is sort of weird because he might be following along with us right now.
When I was lying there in my bed this morning, I was thinking of things that I wished I had talked to him about. Things like faith and spirituality and what it was like to be involved in World War II. Did he have any cool stories from being there. Hey Grandpa, are you aware that you say cuss words under your breath in almost any situation, like especially when we're driving around trying to find a bathroom because you have to take a steamer? Jerry Bruckheimer could probably make an action movie around my Grandpa's style of cussing. He really is better at swearing than Clint Eastwood, and he never uses the f-bomb. I'm talking old style swearing....the kind that comes with your dignity included.
So anyway, I'm glad that grandpa is still around for a bit longer. He's a cool guy, but very reserved. Maybe he'll open up and talk to me one day. Maybe he'll talk about His thoughts on God, or life or whatever. I hope he does. But if not, I'll just have to embrace the mystery of a man who loved his family in his own way, and left his insides up for interpretation. Not everyone can be as open as this blog you know....Monkeys? Really Alan?
posted by Alan Wilser at 2:35 AM
3 Comments:
Roy Crowder...nice....john would like to read this! :)
Great post.
This falls in line with some thinking that I've been doing recently. I've been thinking about how little I know about my parents. Unfortunately, all my grandparents are gone. I think we forget sometimes that they used to be our age. I think we can learn a lot from them.
I put it on my list of goals for 2009 to learn my parents' stories.
Alan, I feel like this a lot.. except my grandpa died ten years ago. Oh the things I wish I could talk to Grandpa about, but didn't care enough when I was 17!!! You're lucky your grandpa is still around :-)
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