Project with my Grandfather

Hello:

Yesterday I mentioned that I had taken Thursday and Friday off work to catch up on some personal projects. Besides cleaning the house and running to the bank, I like to focus on my writing when I can set some time aside. Today, though I'm hoping to focus on my writing, I'm excited to be working on a project with my Grandfather. My Grandfather is an interesting character. He's 83 now but still sports a full head of hair (more than I can say for myself), stands a proud 6' 2" tall and drives at least as safely as I do ( which may not be saying that much). We lost my Grandmother about 8 years ago and after about 2 years of severe depression, my Grandfather has gotten on about the business of living life. Today, he routinely lies about his age. Sixty seven to be safe, "old enough to get the senior's discount, young enough to interest the younger women" as he would say. He is both the joy and bane of every widow in Southern Illinois.

I'm hoping that the project that he and I are working on will eventually result in a magazine article. If I can't get a magazine to pick it up, I'll post it to the web (and drop the link here) because I think some people will find it interesting and it will certainly tickle my Grandfather.

The entire project revolves around a letter that was recently found in my Grandfather's Sister's things. While my Grandfather (let's call him Pa since the other takes so long to type) was serving in England during World War II, he had received orders that he was being shipped out to France. Pa (which is really what I call him) was under orders not to communicate with anyone, so he asked a lady who's family he had gotten to know if she would write to his Mother and tell her not to worry. My Grandfather shipped out with his transportation division and played a key part in the liberation of Paris from the occupying Nazi forces (2 years ago, he received a commendation from the French ambassador to the United States for his role in reopening the supply lines). His request to the English lady long forgotten, he was recently surprised to receive the letter from his niece who had been going through her Mother's things. His Mother had suffered a stroke about the time the letter had been sent and his Sister Mildred had taken care of their Mother's bills and correspondence. Anyway (where's an editor when you need one?), the letter turns out to be 7 pages long and quite touching. The lady recounts at length how proud my Great-Grandmother should be of her son. His polite manners, his deep affection for a girl back in the states named Alene (who later became my Grandmother) and his superior military service.

I've asked my Grandfather to write something to go in parallel with the letter. I think the contrasts between his experiences and the lady's observations of them should be interesting. I also think that the differences in his outlook as a scared teenager serving his country during war in a foreign land and those of a comfortably retired 83 year old will hold a reader's attention. Truthfully though, even if he and I are the only people to ever find value in this; it will be time and effort well spent. I love my Grandfather dearly, but sometimes we run out of things to talk about. Rehashing the same old adventures from his childhood and mine holds us for a little awhile, and his most recent romantic interludes for a little while more; but the opportunity to build a new set of common interests and experiences is something I am really looking forward to.

Today I'm going to feature two Liguori Publications titles. One from the perspective of children coping with the aging of their parents and the other from the perspective of Grandparents staying active in their Grandchildren's lives. How to Honor Your Aging Parents: Fundamental Principles of Caregiving by Richard P. Johnson, Ph.D. covers a topic that many of us will have to confront and provides a framework to allow us to do it in a healthy fashion. Liguori publishes several titles by Dr. Johnson. The other Liguori title I'd like to mention is Creative Grandparenting Across the Miles by Patricia L. Fry. We carry a variety of titles by Patricia Fry dealing with youth issues. Honestly, this is a topic that I'm not that familiar with but I wanted to provide a balanced perspective (and promote 2 Liguori books).

Well, I may have set a new record for rambling today. If you read this BLOG and have any thoughts about it at all, please take a moment and leave a comment. I'm grateful to Christian_Male who recently left a remark. Many thank you's to all of you who take the time to read this.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci