Assigned

  It really is as Shakespeare said: to paraphrase him, all the worlds a stage and each of us must play our part. In that famous speech there are seven stages in life. I find myself at the great grandfather stage. Is that the justice stage that Shakespeare eluded too, or the pantaloon? I'm not in the old age stage quite yet. I'm thinking the justice stage seems about right. If you were to read back over these blogs of mine that seems to be one of several themes. I have reached that point where I'm beginning to listen to myself. Generally speaking I'm in agreement with most things, but occasionally I have doubts. I remain unconvinced on a number of topics. I'm becoming conscious of this role as the great grandfather. 

 The only role model I have for that was my own great grandfather, Floyd. I knew him as a child and he passed when I was thirteen years old. As a result that is the remaining impression I have of him, the view of a thirteen year old boy. He was old. No doubt about that, he carried a cane, although I don't believe he really needed all that much and mostly he used it to point at things or threaten you with it. "I'll cane ya" would be the warning when I started to misbehave a bit. He alternatively chewed and smoked a cigar. Always dressed in a three piece suit, rarely taking that jacket off. When he did he wore sleeve garters, I though he must have been a gambler, but they just served to adjust the length of the sleeves on his shirt.

 Gramp, as I called him, didn't seem to do much of anything. He could peel an apple with his penknife and keep that skin intact. Mostly he just sat around telling his stories. Well, except they weren't stories about him, there were just stories about how things used to be. He didn't talk much about great grandmother Lucy, she had passed in 1956, he didn't talk about his daughters either. A great deal of the more personal stuff I know about him I learned after his death, when I took an interest in genealogy. I guess the truth of the matter is I just wasn't listening most of the time. He was just a grumpy old man and not much fun. 

 As I said I was thirteen when he passed away. I knew he was my great grandfather but wasn't impressed by that much. I'm thinking you don't understand what a great grandfather is until you become one. What I mean is, my great granddaughter is just a little over two months old. I'm going to be 72 in July. She will most likely be eight or ten years old before she begins to figure out who I am. So, if I make it, I'll be 82 or so. I guess I'll be in the "pantaloon" phase by then. It is difficult for children to comprehend that their parents had mothers and fathers, and they have mothers and fathers too! I remember as a small child my mom talking to her mother and calling her mom, it seemed pretty strange. It was when I moved to Maryland that I first heard Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop being used to refer to grandparents. It makes sense. My father only had his grandfather, he called him Gramp. As a kid I never thought about that. My mother usually referred to gramp as, that old man. 

 So here I am thinking about the things my great granddaughter doesn't know. I'm thinking about how to be a great grandfather. Apparently I have been "assigned" that role. That's what happens in the 21st century, you get assigned things. It doesn't mean you can't change the assignment though, at least some people believe that, but I'm not one of them. No, I am what I am and will remain that way. If I become that grumpy old man that tells stories all the time that's just what it will be. I can only hope that I will become as endeared to my great grandchildren I was to that grumpy old man I called gramp. Shakespeare was right, we all have to play our part. Funny thing is, we don't get to write the script no matter how hard we try. We just get to play the part. Yes, one day we will make our exit. It's all a part of the assignment.   

                                                                                     

 my great granddaughter Elliotte Ann Elisabeth Reichart