Happy
88th birthday to the grandpa who taught me about thunder as I sat on his
kitchen counter as a toddler, looking out the window at a summer storm.
Happy
birthday to the grandpa who pointed out the sounds of crickets when I was a
little girl while we swung together on his rickety white back-porch swing.
Happy birthday to the grandpa who ignited my insatiable childhood obsession
with animals when he took me through the employee-only offices at the Monte L.
Bean museum; showing me drawers of beautiful bird and butterfly bodies and the
delicate skeletons of rodents and reptiles.
Happy birthday to the grandpa who
awed my brothers and I with his "baseball" arm muscles from years and
years of hard work.
Happy birthday to the grandpa whose hugs stab me with the glasses
in his chest pocket and the grandpa who would let me watch him remove his glass
eye.
Happy birthday to the grandpa who would dance with me and sing along to
"Let me call you sweetheart" tinkling out of a music box in his front
room.
Happy birthday to the grandpa whose talk at my baptism, when he expressed
his relief at being alive to see his granddaughter born after a battle with
cancer and declared his unwavering testimony, provided my first memory of
feeling the sprit.
Happy birthday to the grandpa who climbed into a bear's den,
who let his son bring home wild magpies, and who garnered life-long love and
respect from countless university students.
Happy birthday to the grandpa who
served as a loving and welcoming temple worker, a full-time missionary (twice),
and giver of priesthood baby blessings in homes and churches and Easter
campsites over many years.
Happy birthday to the grandpa who never spoke an
unkind word, or even in an unkind tone to me my entire life.
Happy birthday to
the grandpa who never fails to grin at my entrance into his home like he's been
waiting for me forever.
Happy birthday to the grandpa who radiates light and
love like no one else I've ever known.
Happy birthday to the grandpa who loves
you even if he doesn't remember you and sings to the hymns you play even if he
doesn't remember the words.
Happy birthday to the grandpa who passed down his
love and understanding of nature in a way that has been life-altering to me.
Happy birthday to the zoologist, the professor, the dad, the adventurer, the
explorer, the mill worker, the older brother, the uncle, the scientist, the
lawn-mower, the cabin and canyon lover, the desert camper, the husband, the
plaid shirt wearer, the National Geographic collector, the veteran, the
honorable priesthood holder, the cancer survivor, the missionary, the
'round-the-block-walk taker, and the shining Christ-like hero that is my
grandpa.
Oh, how I love you.
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