Grandpa Mac

My Grandpa Mac died a week and a half ago. It was very sudden and unexpected and has been pretty hard. Tim and I drove through Safford on our way to Mexico, so I was able to see him in the hospital two days before he passed. His passing has been hard not only because it happened so quickly and he was so young (only 72), but also because he was one of those people who was larger than life and because my most vivid childhood memories include him. There are a lot of Grandpa Mac memories (because he was a part of every Thanksgiving, Christmas and Summer that I had growing up) but here are a few of my favorites:

NOISE ON CHRISTMAS: Grandpa always bought and gave the fun presents on Christmas mornings. The noisy, chaotic ones that our parents were secretly hoping would break before we left Grandpa & Grandma's house.

ICED TEA: Sitting in the rockers on the back porch of the house on Relation Street and taking a sip of grandpa's "lemonade," promptly spitting it out, giving grandpa a disgusted look and telling him that my mom knew how to make the good lemonade. Grandpa just laughed.

BURIED TREASURE: Grandpa telling us stories and helping us look for buried treasure under the rocks beneath the bridge in the front of the house on Relation Street. He always came up with some whopper stories.

BACON: Sitting outside of the tin roof cabin on Mount Graham with grandpa on a cold morning while he fried up a couple of pounds of bacon. He went inside to get the others, came back a few minutes later to find that the 7-year old me had eaten most of it. He just laughed and laughed and said "That's my girl".

MOTORCYCLE & HUBBA BUBBA: Riding with grandpa on his motorcycle to the corner store (without Mother Theresa's knowledge) and Grandpa letting me choose whatever I wanted. I got the mint chocolate Hubba Bubba bubble gum. A very big deal in my mostly sugar-free childhood.

FROG LEGS: Grandpa convincing me to eat the "fried chicken" before telling me they were frog legs. Tasted like chicken, only chewy. Grandpa laughed and laughed at my reaction (near tears) and said "Darlin', anything tastes good fried". That little piece of wisdom has definitely stuck.

YELLOW CAMARO: Grandpa was always working on something. I have very clear images of him working on the yellow camaro and the old RV out in front of the house.

DANCING: My most recent and precious memory is dancing with Grandpa at my wedding. The man could definitely move.

I'm grateful I was able to fly home for his funeral. It was a beautiful service for a beautiful man. I'll miss you grandpa.