Papa. PawPaw. Pop. Pa. Grandfather. Grandpa. Granddad. Grandaddy. Whatever you call your grandfather, it holds special meaning to him and you. Mothers, let me tell you now; once a girl gets her grandpa wrapped around his finger, he will never let go and neither will she. I was blessed to have lived half of my life with two grandfathers; I lost one grandfather nearly four years ago to colon cancer, so now I'm down to one, but I still love them both.

My grandaddy, who passed away, was my best friend. I could go to him when I felt like I needed to be brought down (because I'm spoiled). He probably taught me more life lessons in the fourteen years that I knew him than my entire eighteen-year-old life right now. He lived out in the country where there was no cell service, and the Internet was inadequate, so that made room for more conversations and lessons. He taught me how to count money accurately and even attempted to show me how to braid hair (my mom tried to guide me, but all I wanted to do was cut and style the dolls' hair). He took me outside and pulled me around in a little red wagon while he was doing yard work, and when he got into photography, he let me tag along to every trip he had to make; I even had the honor of being his model for all of his shoots. When he died, a part of me died, too, and it was hard to come back from that because I knew it would happen, but I didn't want it to happen. The night he passed away, my PawPaw drove nearly 30 minutes to the middle of nowhere to pick me up and take me to his house.

PawPaw, who is also my best friend, is the grandpa that I consider the funny one. My grandaddy was funny, but my PawPaw's humor is like no other. I'm the only granddaughter when it comes to PawPaw, so I'm the princess of the house, even though my little cousin is younger than me and around them more. I like to think of this as "what I say goes." PawPaw doesn't tell much life lessons, but he prefers to turn life events (even if they have nothing to do with me) into a lesson. I know if he's not inside sitting in his favorite seat (which I steal from him every chance I get) I know he's sitting on the porch in his rocking chair watching the cars and school buses pass. Each Christmas, he has to hide the gifts because he knows that I'll go looking for them to see if I got what I asked for. When I turned sixteen, I started to ask to drive his cars. He just looked at me and I knew...good luck, Charlie.

These memories that I have with my grandfathers are so unique, and I'll carry them in my heart for life. I've always loved them, and I never favored one over the other because I learned things from both of them that was equally important and beneficial to me in my life, so whenever I have children, I know that like my granddaddy loved me and my PawPaw loves me, he'll love them just as much.