C & B + R: My PawPaw

Last Saturday my PawPaw passed away at the age of 73. He fought the stage 4 lung cancer that we only discovered in November of last year and stuck around with us for as long as he could. There is certainly going to be a void in our family now that will never be filled, but we have to continue to lean on our wonderful memories of him to get us through each day.

This might just be one of my favorite pictures of my PawPaw. He looks so cool!

My PawPaw was a strong-willed and tough man who loved his family more than anything in the world. He would have done absolutely anything in his power to make us happy and to give us the best life possible. When thinking about what I should write about my PawPaw, I kept coming back to all the things that he had given me. So, Chris coined him the 'grandfather that gave you everything'. And, it is true as you will see from below. He certainly spared no expense with my brother or I and our lives wouldn't have been the same without him.

My PawPaw was a hard worker. He did a variety of jobs, some that I have only heard about. He was once a Sheriff's Deputy, a truck driver and finally started his own construction business that I knew him best at. Up until last year, I do believe that he was still trying to find something to do to keep himself busy.

This shows you just a portion of the hard worker that I am talking about.

While I have only seen pictures from his Sheriff's Deputy days, I do have one memory of PawPaw being a truck driver. When I was young I would stay with my grandmother, Jo, and we would wait to see his big truck pulling down the road. It is a fond memory that I have of being so excited to see him pull up! At his construction business, I spent a good bit of time, especially in the summers, climbing on all the equipment. There was certainly plenty to explore there.

My PawPaw was a candy maker. Only one type of candy, but a candy maker indeed. He was famous in our small little town for his peanut brittle. One of the pastors who spoke at my PawPaw's funeral had agreed many years ago with my PawPaw to speak at his funeral if he could have the recipe for his peanut brittle. Of course, only a joke on his part, but my PawPaw made good on his promise and my grandmother came to funeral with recipe in tow. I absolutely love that my PawPaw, who did not appear to be a cook, could make something that so many people loved and looked forward to getting a taste of every Christmas. I can't wait to try my hand at it and see if I can make it like he did.

My PawPaw loved to sit on his screened porch and watch the cars go by his house. He called it "watchin' the passin'". I loved that he enjoyed watching the world go by and he always threw up a hand for those passersby that he knew. We used to take trips to Gatlinburg, TN almost every year with Jo and PawPaw. We would stay in the same place every year because they had a great big wrap around porch with rocking chairs for PawPaw to sit and watch the passin', which I guess is where his love for sitting and watching the passin' began.

Being that my PawPaw was a truck driver, he was very good with directions. He didn't need a GPS, just grab him an atlas and he would point you in the right direction via the quickest route.

My PawPaw loved his sleep. It was often that you could find him in bed before the sun even went down. He was always up bright an early to see my mom make her way out the driveway to head to work though.

PawPaw was always "right". Maybe that's where I get that from!

My PawPaw called me "big girl". It was very rare to hear him call me Brooke, but just like my Granddaddy, PawPaw had a nickname for me and I loved it.

I was quite a "big girl" here, almost 9 months pregnant with Reed!

My PawPaw loved our little boy. He was certainly the highlight of his life the last few months. If there was anyone that could cheer him up, it was him. Even though PawPaw was weak and tired, he would always pop his eyes open for Reed when he very abruptly came into the room making lots of noise and PawPaw would respond with "hey boy!". He loved our boy and our boy loved him!

Check out how happy PawPaw and my Granddaddy were to be checking out Reed!

I have 4 of this same picture and PawPaw never stopped looking at me. Love you PawPaw!

PawPaw allowed Reed to pretend to put makeup on him this Christmas.

Reed and PawPaw hanging out on the porch on Easter. PawPaw loved Reed's bow tie.

And my PawPaw just might be the main reason that my brother and I are a wee bit spoiled.

My PawPaw bought us our first, second and maybe even third four-wheelers. There was never a dull moment around his house. He also bought us our first car, maybe when I was 13 or so. It was strictly for field-driving though! We had horses and ponies too. There is a story that we like to tell about PawPaw claiming that Marc's pony "ran away". Yeah, right!

My PawPaw built me a totally awesome playhouse for Christmas one year. It was huge and perfect! It moved with us when we moved when I was in high school. It is now a storage shed, so I guess you could say he built a multi-purpose house.

Apparently I may have been so spoiled that my PawPaw actually paid a good friend of the family to pick me up from school and take me to the babysitter's house because I refused to ride the school bus. Wow, that's all I can say! I was a nervous child and my PawPaw would have done anything for me. Obviously!

Reed didn't miss out on any spoiling either. Reed had his first mule and buggy before he was even a year old. He never got to ride behind it, but he has gotten to ride on the pony, Norman, that PawPaw bought for him just last year. And, boy did Reed love to ride PawPaw's electric recliner up and down!

Reed riding in his seat on PawPaw's golf cart that PawPaw rigged up for him. He was even equipped with his own steering wheel and wired horn!

My PawPaw helped me buy my first and second cars. Our Honda, the car that Chris still drives today, my PawPaw paid off and gave to us as a wedding gift.

Wow, what a man! I loved him so very much and continue to struggle with the fact that he will no longer be at his house when we visit Summerville. I am sure he and my Granddaddy are having a good chat in Heaven tonight. How we miss them both so. I am so happy to know that we will not have to miss them forever and will one day get to see them again.