Dedicated to My Grandpa
Submitted by William
Why is it when we have a chance to do something about a situation there is always something just a little more important to do instead?
About fifteen years ago, my grandpa and grandmawon a trip to Hawaii. It was the only trip they had ever been able to take, you see they never had much money. They worked hard for what they had, but never seemed to get ahead on their low incomes.
Grandpa came back from hawaii with a new vigor in his step and a twinkle in his eyes. you see he had found the only other love besides grandma in his life. Grandpa talked about taking his family to see his paradise all the time. In fact, he talked about it so much that mom and dad, and my aunt and uncle would roll thewir eyes and try to change the subject. But not us grand kids, we wanted to go with grandpa to see Hawaii. We all grew up at grandpa’s knee hearing about that wonderful place called Hawaii.
Every now and then, the family would start talking seriously about going, and grandpa’s old green eyes would fill with tears and he would get so excited. but there always seemed to be something just a little more important that had to be done first, like the new car, or the bigger house, the camping trailer, or the motorcycles.
Grandpa’s health went downhill and he had to quit the factory. When that happened he gave up on takthe whole family and settled on taking us grand kids. Grandpa tried so hard, he couldn’t work anymore so he started a handy-man business doing odd jobs for people. But everytime he started to get a little ahead, something happened, like the heart bypass surgery, the stomach surgery, the disk that had to be repaired in his back, or the growth that had to be removed from his hip. But grandpa never gave up, he would sit and tell us kids about how much fun we were going to have when we got there. When he talked about Hawaii his eyes would go far away. I would cuddle up close, and as I listened, I would began to see it too.
I loved my grandpa so much and I so wanted to walk on the soft sandy beaches with my hand in his old knurled hand, and watch his eyes sparkle as he pointed this and that.
Grandpa never got to see Hawaii again, and everybody says they should have tried a little harder. Why couldn’t mom and dad have understood a little more and helped grandpa with his dream. But now it’s too late. Now I wil never cuddle up next to my grandpa again, not here, not in Hawaii, not ever. Why can’t we try a little harder when it would make a difference, when they are still here.
Aloha grandpa, I loved you