The Original Beanie Baby

He’s known as the original Beanie Baby.

Actually, he has many titles: Beanie, Leonard, Gene, husband, father, brother, uncle, and cousin, but I believe his favorite title and what I have the privilege to call him: Grandpa

My grandpa has a huge milestone coming up. On April 16^th he will turn 80 and to celebrate his life, our family will be spending this weekend at a cabin in Pigeon Forge.   He’s one of the many people in my life who’s taught me how to be More Than My Mountains.  So, in honor of my grandpa, I would like to share a few golden nuggets he has passed on to me.

     1. Don’t Complain About Your Circumstances: Over the years Grandpa has had his fair share of, "losses.” My union-man grandfather worked at a steel mill almost 20 years before he lost his job because the steel industry moved overseas. If you’ve ever wondered why Grandpa is an American-made Ford man, well there is your answer.  He then began working as a welder, which came with terrible sporadic shifts. This career change caused him and Grandma to have to wait on many things they wanted to do until they could save and afford it.  Though he had every right to complain, he didn’t.  My grandpa’s philosophy has always been, “you never know what the other man is going through,” so you have no right to complain— you work hard and you do what you can to help your fellow neighbor along the way.  I’ve taken this attitude I’ve learned from Grandpa and applied it to my situation. Despite my Primary Immunodeficiency, I’m determined not to complain because I have no clue what others are going through.  My goal is to do More. Along the way I hope to help my fellow neighbor to “stand” just as my grandpa has done.

2.     Don’t Throw Anything Out Before You’ve Tried Fixing It First: There’s no doubt about it, my grandpa is the handy-man of the family.  Over the years, he’s come up with the cleverest ways of fixing objects.  He’s unknotted my necklaces, repaired my broken shoes, and most recently he performed surgery on his favorite rake I broke when I was raking leaves for him last fall. Although the only thing I’m crafty with is a paper and pen, his motto of trying to fix anything that’s broken has inspired me to find a solution before I give up on trying. By watching my grandpa’s example, my determination to never allow my disease control me became a part of my character. There may be areas in my life that I want to “throw away,” but because of my grandpa I’ve learned how to “fix,” them because they become rare and priceless treasures.

    3.  There’s a Correct and Proper Way to Cut Tomatoes and Spaghetti: Seem kind of random?  It is.  But if there was ever a correct and proper way to cut tomatoes and spaghetti, my grandpa knew it and he taught it to me.  Two separate occasions while I was cutting these foods it began the same way, “Look here, look here,” Grandpa said with his famous grunt, then he proceeded to show me how to cut it with Grandma in the background saying, “Gene!  Let her cut her spaghetti/tomato how she wants too!” At 12 years old, I wasn’t very amused about receiving this “help.” Now our family looks back on this memory of “Cutting Tomatoes and Spaghetti 101,” with laughter.  Besides being taught a “better way” to cut these types of food what I eventually learned through these instances is no matter how frustrating it is, there’s always wisdom to be gained from your elders.  Never discount what advice they have to give you no matter how trivial it seems.  I have learned so much from my grandpa over the years and I know I’ll pass it on to my children...even how to cut tomatoes and spaghetti, J

4.  You’re Never Too Old to Have Fun: Grandpa has taught me this in spades. He’s the first one to cut up a have a good time.  Many people remember when he was at the beach and dressed up as a woman and acted like he was walking an invisible dog. Over the years he’s dressed up as the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and put his gold teeth in and given us an original rap.  It’s given my family and I many memories and much laughter and it’s shown me the only way to remain young while growing old is to let loose and have some fun. 

5.    Managing and Working in a Garden: This one is probably the dearest

and most precious thing he’s taught me.  He’s instilled in me a love of putting out a garden and seeing the fruit of the labor we put into it.  There’s been many mornings I’ve gotten up as the sun was rising to help my grandpa pick green beans or corn.  It’s one of my favorite things to do and it's become our thing.  Each year he adds another process to putting out a garden to teach me and this year he’ll be teaching me the planting, tilling, and plowing.  I truly feel honored because I feel like by learning this skill, I’ll be able to carry the legacy of something my grandpa is passionate about and is known for.

        

There’s so many things I could share about this one of a kind man, but this blog post would then be 100 pages long.  I just hope I’ve conveyed the impact he has had on this earth for the last 80 years.  He’s had many wonderful and exciting adventures during his journey, but I have a feeling the best is yet to come for this husband, father, brother, uncle, my Grandpa— The Original Beanie Baby.