Grandpa Gil

Wow! I'm such a slacker! I've spent so much time doing this stupid My Space page that I forgot all about this blog. Duh!!!
Well, let's see, what we've been up to...
Last night my sister calls me in a panic. She said, "I love you and I never try to tell you what to do..." (thinking, oh crap, now what) "But you need to call Grandpa right now."
I said Okay, no problem. I was kind of putting off calling him and again, slacking on my duties. So I asked why, what was the matter.
"He is really upset that he hasn't heard from you", she told me. Apparently she called him to see how he was and all he did was cry that he hadn't heard from me lately. Well, I try to call him about once or twice a month and get up to see him about as much. He only lives 45 minutes away. And really I should call and visit more often.
We lost my grandma in April, and since then he's been lost. They were married for 60 years, and she just went to lay down and take a nap one day and didn't wake up. Granted she was sick with Parkinson's for years, she was feeling alright that particular day. So it's extremely hard for him to let her go. He cries a lot and wants family and friends around as much as possible.
I called him and asked if we could come by and see him today. He said, "You mean it's that easy? I just say I miss you and you come like that?"
Well, I don't want him thinking this is a weekly thing here, but I said, "Yup, it's that easy!"
Of course, today, we were late getting there. He was standing in the parking lot waiting for us. He lives in an assited living apartment, so he can come and go as he pleases.
Now my grandpa, just so you can get an idea, is a grumpy old man. He's pissed a lot of people off in his 83 years of life, including some immediate family members. He doesn't know when to hold his tounge and he thinks he has rights over others. My mom and I are the only two who can ignore that and just be with him. He loves my mom like she were his only child. I'm not trying to be mean, she has two brothers, but my grandpa thinks the world of his daughter. And he should, all that she's done for him and sacrificed over the years.
Anyway, we take him out to eat at Perkin's. Lunch is ok, not the greatest. Then there is a park the kids like a lot that is a few blocks from where Grandpa lives. So we head over there to let them play. He hasn't seen Hunter walk yet, so that was his big excitement for the day. I can't tell you how proud he is to show off his great-grandchildren. My grandma was, too. Everywhere we'd go she'd tell anyone who would listen, These are my GREAT- grandchildren!
My grandpa has many fears and phobias and they get worse as he gets older. One being that the kids will get snatched up. So at the park he wouldn't let them more than 10 feet away from him. If they went to play in another section of the playground, he was right behind them. Drew and Louisa are oblivious as to how grumpy their Grandpa Gil can be. They just like to be around him.
I love sharing my kids with my grandparents. It's a shame that he's the only one left, but it's nice to have him here. Sometimes he's a handful. Well, a LOT of the time he's a handful. Mostly for my mom. But that's her dad, so she keeps trucking on. Driving that hour and a half every week, getting him to doctors appointments, and running errands. And every time I see him he tells me, That mom of yours is really something else.