February 14, 2008

Dear Gram and Gramp,

You know, I was asked a most interesting question today. It went something like this: " If you could have dinner with anyone, living or deceased, whom would it be with, and why?" I didn't have to think about my answer for even a minute. Images of you both sprung to my mind. Oh, how I miss you so, and wish you were here for one more dinner.

As a little girl, when I visited you I felt like a princess, for you always made me feel as if I was a precious jewel in your lives. I think about our cracker and cheese parties every now and then, propped in your turquoise kitchen chairs, watching Gram slice cheese and stack crackers until we were all stuffed and could eat no more.

And there were those Saturday nights spent at your place, when you and Mom and Dad, and our aunts and uncles got together for the card parties. The vision of my Great-Grandma inching closer and closer to your television set at precisely the Lawrence Welk Hour, always made me question whether she truly thought she was a part of the show. I'm convinced she thought she was. To this day, I cannot hear his music without thinking of all of you. I see the sugared gumdrops and peanuts set out in your festive party dishes, I can taste the bubbly Dr. Pepper in your flowered glasses, and I can even feel the serrated edges on the stacks of poker chips as I help Gramp set up the Tripoli game. It has been 40 years now. How I wish we could go back to those simpler times.

Where did those years go? Graduations came and went. I left for college, married, and became a mother. It was one of my proudest moments when I introduced you to your great-grandsons.

In my mind's eye it was just yesterday when my little boys were crowded around your kitchen table on their knees, spying your neat little row of goodie jars brimming with candies and treats. Instinctively, you knew just what little boys liked, and I marveled at the patient way in which you carefully filled their sacks with the contents of those jars. Did I ever tell you how they clutched those precious bags in their tiny hands all the way home? It pleased me so much when they dubbed you "Poppy with the goodies." You will always be that to me.

I want you to know every Easter I still bake the lamb cake, and I think of you. I will never forget the day you passed the pan down to me. I remember standing on your front porch saying goodbye to you after a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and you suddenly ran back into the kitchen with such energy. After rummaging through the cabinets you appeared with the lamb cake pan, placed it in my hands, and told me you wanted me to have it. I was happy and sad all at once, for I realized you were saying goodbye to me in your own way. I never saw you again because you left us for Heaven two months later.

Somehow we have gone on without you, and there is a hole in our lives where you should be. Yet, we are comforted with the knowledge you are waiting for us, and we will all be together once again. I hope you'll be looking forward to the day when we can all have dinner together again...I know I surely will. Keep your chef's hat pressed. I'll be bringing the dessert.

With much love,

Your Granddaughter