Emma,
I know I’m not
your “for real” granddad. But I have watched you grow since you were a little
baby. I missed watching my own children grow up, and now that they are grown
and I have “for real” grandkids, they all live far away and I don’t get to
watch them grow.
You are very
special to me. I remember in the apartment I lived in when I first met you, you
used to make me play follow-the-leader with you and do all kinds of little
stunts in the hallway. Laying on our bellies, kicking our feet in the air. You
turning in circles, and I had to do it on my knees so I was almost as small as you.
You helped me
plant my first garden in Oklahoma, and tore up half the plants that grew.
You’re five now.
You still wear my t-shirts to keep the paint off you when we break out the
paints and make a mess. We still have tea parties, me, a durn near 50 year old
man, and you the hostess. And you put WAY too much sugar in our mint tea.
I always have to
shove the tire swing I made for you out of the way when I mow the side yard. I’d
had that chain for years, and I’m glad I finally found a good use for it.
You have allowed
me to be a kid when I feel old. You have given me the gift of a child’s love
that I cannot get from my own grandchildren so far away, even though I know
they love me.
When I got hurt,
you told RoRo that you HAD to be there at the hospital, because I needed YOU to
take care of me. You have no idea how true that was.
You are my
Elmer, my Emma, and as it says on the paper you signed that I put on my refrigerator,
my ammE.
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