Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is my grandfather's birthday. He was born on December 1, 1911. He was VERY proud of his Irish heritage and made sure his children and grandchildren were as well. He taught me how to put the "Irish Curse" on a local traffic light to change it to green whenever it stopped us. He also danced through his living room to entertain me and loved his "cream". Anyone in our family would understand this to mean ice cream. I am the youngest grandchild, so whenever he called me I would wait through all of my aunts', mother's, sister's, and female cousins' names before he would finally come up with my name. It would irritate and frustrate him to no end that he couldn't come up with my name first, but I always found it charming. I would also kid him and say, "Well at least you didn't call me the dog's name."

My grandfather died in January 1997. Almost 10 years ago. He is missed terribly. I don't remember exactly what the date was that he died. But, ya know, it doesn't really matter. I want to remember his life, and celebrate his life, rather than mourn his death.

Happy Birthday Grandpa! Please know that you are loved, missed, talked about often, and thought of all the time! Enjoy your birthday cream!