saying goodbye to grampa aka gramps was one of the most momentous experiences of my life. i never realized how big the role was that he not only played in the lives of others, but most importantly, my life, until now. i realize how personal our relationship was and how much he is a part of who i am. during the funeral, while the pastor spoke about his importance to the church, and my relatives spoke on their memories of "uncle julius" (which most of them refer to him as), and his friends spoke on the days of partying, joking, and his sometimes grumpy demeanor, i sat and reminisced of the days he'd pick me up from school, threaten to shoot my friends if they didn't "take they ass home", always fuss about giving me a ride somewhere or money out his pocket but do it anyways, and let me chew a little tobacco with him until i discovered how gross it tasted. i look back at my prom tape where grampa had about 5 full minutes of air time, and i listened to him speak about the significance of building a foundation from love for your family. i listened to him speak about when he built this house in the 50's so that his wife, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren could always have somewhere to go where people loved them. in the video he says how important it is to love each other and he expresses how much he loved all of us. he definitely lived a full life, 93 years almost, and he always had a story to tell about it. one that sticks out at the moment is about him stealing biscuits from the kitchen table and hiding them in his pocket because he wasn't allowed to go outside and eat. lol. grampa was the best. most famous words, "you aint got the sense god gave a mule", "gimme a toothpick", "would you looka there, colored people on tv", and my favorite, "grandfather loves you". thanks for everything grampa. who you were, still lives in me.
the baby grandgirl (as u would call me),
leslie.
