...thinking about my grandparents.

My grandfather died on September 11, 2001 - not from terrorists flying planes into buildings, but from cancer. It was only 6 short months from diagnosis to death. It made the finality of things much too heavy. I was in high school when he passed, and I moved in with my grandmother. She had never lived alone, and I was aching to spread my wings. It was a nice match for a few months.
The things I remember the most about my grandfather was that he used to call me "Sugar Foot." I have no idea where that came from or what it means, but that's who I was to him. He sat on a certain side of the couch in their living room. He loved Matlock and Westerns. He was stationed in Japan during the Korean war, and he used to sing us these curious little Japanese songs. When I asked him what the songs were about he would grin really big and say, "They're always about the emperor's daughter and her fine qualities." Grandpa used to put cinnamon in his hamburgers and chili - which I always found odd. He topped vanilla ice cream with Big Red soda, a custom which I have adopted. He wore trucker hats and rodeo belt buckles way before they were in fashion. It's been over 8 years since I lost him, but I still think about him often.
My grandmother, his wife, also passed away this year. It happened without any warning just a few months after her 80th birthday. That wound is still very fresh for me. I'm crying right now typing this, but it's good to remember. She was a spunky lady - always had an opinion about everything. She was an awesome seamstress. She loved to crochet, embroider, and quilt. She tried to pass these skills along to me at an early age, but I didn't have the patience or the hand-eye coordination for it. She did love to read. Both of my grandparents did - a passion that I share. In fact, I inherited quite a collection of books between the two of them. Grandma loved poetry, especially Robert Louis Stevenson. When I was in elementary school, I remember her getting a coloring book for me with excerpts of his poetry in big letters at the bottom of each picture. She encouraged me to write my own recipes and make my own purses. She was a very crafty lady, and I miss her dearly.