My Pa!!!

15 years ago this summer I lost one of the one most amazing people in the world…my granddaddy!! I was only 10 years old, but to this day he still is one of my favorites and always will be!! He was MY PA!! And I would let you know really quickly he was all MINE!!! At such a young age you do not realize how important and what kind of impact people leave on you, I’m so thankful for this impact!! I was the second oldest granddaughter and the only one out of four granddaughters that was always around my Pa…therefore I was “special” or that is what I told myself. My Pa would have done anything for all of his grandkids and he did! I can remember the days I got to spend with him and it was just ME AND HIM!!! Man, I was a luck gal!!! My Pa delivered newspapers so sometimes in the summer I would go with him, which meant getting up super early but I was willing since I got to be with him. I’ll never forget one time he let me have a coke and a swiss cake roll for breakfast…shh I don’t think my mom knows still to this day!! Ha ha It was great!! He was also his grandkids number one fan in everything, especially sports! He was always at my brothers baseball games and he would let me take multiple trips to the concession stand during one game…mom wasn’t too happy, but that was his job right?? There were days that I had to go to a day care for half-day and it was pure TORTURE!!! But when he could, my Pa would come and get me so I didn’t have to stay there!! He would take me to his house and it was always around nap time, we were the best at taking naps!! He would get the long couch and I got the little couch and we would watch TV and fall asleep!! My grandmother still lives in the same house and I cannot go into the living room without thinking about naps with Pa. For some reason he always had tons and tons of pennies, I never really knew why he always had them and why he had sooo many, but I loved playing with them. My brothers and I would always play with the pennies and we would have them all over my grandparent’s house…oh the things we could do with pennies! My Pa was my “rock” I loved that man so much I cannot even put it into words. He was my only granddaddy (my dad’s dad passed away while my dad was still in college). I would always help my grandmother when she kept my baby cousins and Pa would always give me money for helping. I usually spent it and didn’t really think anything about it…but for some reason the last $10 he gave me I kept. At the time, I had no idea it would be the last, but now I’m so thankful I kept it. I kept it until I wanted to buy something that I really wanted and that I could keep forever. I finally decided that I wanted to but these sunflower pictures ( that summer I was in the process of redoing my room into sunflowers) and 15 years later they are still hanging in my room and the day I move out they will go with me and I hope to keep them forever! It’s a small piece of my Pa that I can always have along with the precious memories. I still remember vividly everything that happened the morning he passed away, he was on a paper route and had a heart attack and didn’t make it. I was at my cousin’s house on my dad’s side. My dad called their mom and told them what happened but she did not tell us kids, but just said to bring us home. So Matthew and I knew something was wrong so we got home my dad told us…IT WAS TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Andrew was already at home because he had a baseball game the night before and my granddaddy was there at the game. So my mom, brother, and dad were the last that saw him other then my grandmother. I just wanted my mom but she was at the hospital, I just remember sitting with my brothers on our front porch bawling our eyes out! All 3 of us were extremely close with our Pa and we loved him dearly! The days to follow were hard on the entire family. My mom is the oldest of 8 kids, big family!! So the visitation was forever long and the funeral was at our church and it was packed!! My Pa was very well known and knowing how many lives he touched was very comforting to our family. Even though I only knew him for 10 short years, I cannot thank God enough for allowing me to have such an awesome Granddaddy!! I’m a daddy’s girl, but I was a HUGE Granddaddy’s girl. We made some awesome memories together and I know without a doubt he looks down on me every day and he was watching after his little Jenny Wynn Wynn ( this was my nickname, his version of Jenny Lynn Lynn). I cannot wait for the day that I am reunited with my Pa!!!!