He was the granddaddy who was the biggest cheerleader in the whole world. He came to every single softball game, basketball game, piano recital, school awards day, and birthday party. He was the first one to get there, and the last one to leave. He was known to even fix a few P.A. systems in the Manchester gym...in the middle of a basketball game when he couldn't hear the announcer calling out his granddaughter's name... ha ha! :)
He was the biggest prankster in the whole world, too! I cannot even begin to count how many jokes he pulled on people. And it made his day to know that he'd fooled you. Nothing tickled him more. I will NEVER forget the time he dressed up as a bum to scare me when I got off the train, coming back from New Orleans... 
He was the greatest storyteller. I could sit and listen to him tell stories (yes, the same ones I'd heard over and over and over about him growing up with all of those TONS of brothers and sisters he had) and we DID sit and listen to him tell stories for hours on end. Even in the end years of his life, he still enjoyed to tell a story! I will miss those so much.
I will miss seeing him smile from ear to ear when Grady walks in the room. From the moment Grady was born, he stole Papaw's heart and there was not another human being in the universe that could make Papaw smile the way Grady could. He thought Grady hung the moon and I think the feeling was mutual. I will SO miss watching the two of them interact, but am just thankful to be able to have those memories to cherish...so many kiddos do not ever get to know their great grandparents.
Papaw was so very talented also... He could play almost any musical instrument...the fiddle, the guitar, the mandolin... He's one of the reasons that I learned to play the guitar. When I got my very first guitar, I remember going straight over to his house so he could check it out. He taught me the first few chords and was just estatic that I wanted to learn. He could sing, too. And sing beautifully! I haven't heard him sing in a really long time because of his health, but I know that today, he is singing with my Mamaw in heaven and I know it's the most beautiful sound!
To him, everyone was "doll." He called me that as long as I can remember as well as my sisters, my cousin Elizabeth, my mom, and any other female person! ha ha. All except for Mamaw. And to him, she was "sugar". It's been a long time that they've spent apart... She died my sophomore year of college unexpectedly and I don't think he ever truly recovered from a broken heart after that. He and "sugar" are together at long last!
My Papaw was probably the most patriotic person who ever existed. I cannot sing the National Anthem or God Bless America without tearing up because I think of him and how completely proud and humbled he was to be called an American. If only every American had his loyalty! From the time I was very small, he instilled that patriotism in me. I think his favorite holiday was the Fourth of July. How many thousands of times did we hear, "Turn to number 251....Play it again, Doll!" ha ha...
Once he went into the nursing home, playing BINGO became his favorite pasttime! He won all the time...probably because he used multiple cards and wasn't distracted by chit-chatting going on around him....he took his bingo-playing SERIOUSLY! He always grabbed a 3 Musketeers Bar as his prize and kept a bag full of his loot in a drawer in his room until we came to visit the next time. He'd have so many candy bars that I could take one for every single student in my class to have one. Lately though, Susan, Jenny, and I lost our priviledges and Grady took control of getting Papaw's BINGO prizes! 
Papaw was one of like 13 or 14 brothers and sisters. So his family is enormous! My mom has 52 first cousins...and imagine all of their children and their children's children... Needless to say, Papaw was "Uncle Lester" to hundreds of people... (and of course, all of those who are girls are "doll" to him...ha ha!) I cannot imagine being at the family reunion next year without him being there.
We always joked that Papaw had nine lives and he was on about number 15! Seriously! The man was larger than life to me when I was a kid. There was nothing he couldn't do. I think that's how Grady sees my dad and it makes me smile! That's what granddaddies are supposed to be! But my Papaw was so brave and was scared of nothing (or at least if he was, he didn't let you know it...) Once, he walked in on people who were trying to rob his "camp" (this old house he had on B lake). They shot him before fleeing the house and jumping in the lake out back. Papaw's friend demanded that he get into the truck to go straight to the emergency room, but Papaw wouldn't leave before he slashed the tires of the robbers' truck... He was tough as nails.
All of these things I will remember about him... but the thing that stands out more than anything else was his faith. My Papaw was such a godly man, and someone who had a HUGE impact on my life from such a young age. I think God puts certain people in your life for certain reasons, and I am sure that Papaw was in my life to teach me about Jesus. He loved Jesus more than anything else in his life and it showed by the way he lived. He went to seminary when he was in his 60's because he felt that God was calling him to that, even at that age. He worked so hard and got his doctorate (with a lot of help from my grandmother, too...ha ha!) and even pastored a small church. One of his favorite verses was Micah 6:8..."He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." And my Papaw did all of those things. Makes me question my own life...am I living it in a way that when I'm gone, those who I love will say those things about me? What an example he set for me! And for all of us. He will be so greatly missed, but I know without a shadow of doubt that he is in a FAR better place right now....he is finally HOME.
I made menu cards for about 40 different "meals"...stuff that I have cooked before and we know that it's a "keeper," and also easy-to-make stuff that will be do-able on a school night. And my overly-organized self had to put the meals in categories by color also...of COURSE! I know, I am such a goob! BUT, it really has helped me be more on top of dinner and being organized with it. Also, I am more likely to add some variety to what we are eating... Once we use the cards for that week, they go in the "discard" box and then I pick the next week's cards from the new deck.
I thought Grady looked JUST like Josh in the pic below: 
Apparently, my little man is the biggest bulldog fan around! He has been to both games so far this year and stayed for the ENTIRE game both times... And one was a night game. Josh said he will ring his cowbell when he's supposed to, watches the game intently, and just acts like a professional little bulldog! He now organizes football games with the boys on the playground. Every day when I pick him up, I hear about the latest football game they played at recess and how many touchdowns he scored and how everybody in the "pretend bleachers" cheers for him and rings their cowbells when he scores... um, I think we are a bit obsessed... But he has a LOT of people to thank for that... We are so proud! ha ha! Here are some pics that Susan and my dad took at the past two games...
Go Dawgs! 
