My family has some pretty crazy and fun family Christmas traditions that we like to do each year. One tradition is that each of the nine children of my grandparents gets a chance to be “Santa Claus” and organize the Christmas gift-giving. Each person puts their own little twist on it every year to keep it interesting. This year, my Uncle Guy had a pretty great idea. He decided that his siblings and any of the other family members would choose a story to tell about my Grandpa. We could record these stories and memories so that we could keep on telling them for years to come. Since I didn’t get the chance to share my story at Christmas, I’m going to share it now!

For the past couple of years I have had a unique job. It all started one summer when Grandma needed someone to spend some time with Grandpa, since many in the family were worried about leaving him on his own in their house with his bad eyesight from having strokes. I would come over a couple of days a week and just hang out with Grandpa. We would take walks, do the crossword, play games, hit some tennis balls against the backboard, read, and listen to audiobooks together. Yet as I began to spend more time with him, I got to hear more and more about his own life.

Now, my Grandpa is still alive and well, but his memory isn’t the best as it has been in the past. However, even though he has trouble with his short term memory, he still has a treasure trove of stories from his past that he can recount almost perfectly. This ability never ceases to fascinate and amaze me. One story that I know he loves to tell is about his life out on Edwards Airforce Base in California. He was serving as a doctor for the base at the time. There was one day when the base was conducting a test with a monkey in some sort of aircraft. Well, unfortunately, there was an accident.

The aircraft had caught on fire during the test. The scientists were able to rescue the monkey and they brought him to the hospital when Grandpa happened to be on duty. They asked him to take a look at the monkey. He replied that he didn’t know anything about monkeys; he was a pediatrician, not a veterinarian! The scientists told him he was their only option at that particular moment. So Grandpa agreed to take a look at this monkey. He looked the monkey over carefully and saw that there seemed to be nothing wrong with it. It was just scared from the accident. My Grandpa checked up on it until the monkey was transported to a facility that had a vet to check him out. To this day, Grandpa still can’t believe that this happened!

This is only one example of the kind of interesting and entertaining stories I get to hear every time I get to hang out with my Grandpa. It’s truly amazing to hear about all the things he has seen and experienced over his lifetime. I’ve heard his firsthand account of the great Ohio River flood in 1937. I’ve heard more crazy sailing stories and mishaps than I can count. I’ve learned about his and my Grandma’s life on Edwards Airforce Base. All of these stories that I have heard help to explain where I come from. These stories explain where I got my intense love for the ocean from. They explain where my curiosity for flying and outer space comes from (Grandpa always wanted to learn how to fly, but Grandma wouldn’t let him). They explain my appreciation for not playing by the rules all the time. They explain my love for sailing. With these stories Grandpa has shared not only a part of himself with me, he has also helped me to understand a part of myself.

My Grandpa has come to be one of the people that I look up to the most and that I have the most respect for. He worked hard his entire life to provide for his family and was always taking of others (he even used to be my pediatrician!) Now it’s my turn to help take care of him. I am so glad I’ve been able to spend so much time with him, especially during this time in my life where sometimes everything feels like it’s moving too fast. When I spend time with him, it feels as if time slows down just a little bit, in a good way. I don’t look for the next thing, I just enjoying being there with Grandpa. He reminds me to appreciate the good moments and the little things in life. He has taught me to make the best of my situation, to remain optimistic and happy, even when life seems hard. He has taught me so much throughout my entire life. I know that I still have much to learn from him, and I look forward to that opportunity every time I get to see him!