Memories of Pappy

I just had a very fond memory that I wanted to share. Any of my cousins reading this blog will chuckle with a tear in their eyes when they read it. I was drinking my morning coffee with too much sugar and too much cream, as usual. A habit I picked up from Pappy around the age of 6! LOL

Pappy used to drink a ton of coffee in the morning. He would get up at 4 a.m every day and Grandma would have the first pot loaded and ready for him to just push the button. Usually by the time I woke up he would be on pot #2. He always drank his coffee in a cup with a saucer...always had to the saucer. The reason being is because he actually drank the coffee from the saucer. As you know coffee is usually too hot to drink straight of the pot. Pappy would put in his sugar, cream and coffee (in that order) and then sit down to watch the news or the latest game show....then he would tip his cup and spill his coffee into his saucer, let it sit for a second and then drink it from the saucer. Now as a child this looked like a lot of fun, so I started getting up earlier and earlier at my visits to their house so I could drink coffee with Pappy. It's such a fond little memory I have of my hillbilly Grandpa....and hillbilly he was buddy! And bless my Grandma's ever lovin' heart she never ever complained about the mess he made at the table every morning with his little coffee quirk. But I do recall that she always had one of those cheap plastic table cloths on the table at all times....

As a wife and mother myself now...I get it....I understand the constant cheap table cloth.

I miss them dearly. If I could have 10 minutes back with them it would be wonderful. Especially my Grandma. As awful as it may sound to say out loud, I miss her more than my own mother. Not because my mother didn't love me, but mother was so ill that she was no longer herself at the end. But my Grandma loved me dearly. She taught me so much about love, life, perseverance and making do with what you had. She always made the best out of any situation thrown at her, and some were horrible, and she did it with a smile. They both grew up dirt poor, endured WW II when my Grandma didn't hear from Pappy for over two years, while she raised their 3 children...she never gave up hope that he was alive...endured his alcoholism when he returned from the war and went on to have 5 more kids. I can't imagine her life was easy at all....but she sure made it look that way. Her endless faith in God carried her through all her struggles. I try to remember that when I am struggling.

I love you Grandma and Pappy...if there's an internet in heaven and you learned to read well, I hope you can see this! :0)~