My Pap

Today is my Pap's birthday. I love that man something fierce! He is my dad's dad...my dad passed away 23 years ago this month. Every summer, starting the summer my dad passed, my mom would send my brother and I to our grandparent's house in Pennsylvania (flying as an unaccompanied minor is AWESOME! You used to get to go into the cockpit and meet the pilots.) We would spend 2-6 weeks there doing fun stuff with our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. There is always so much love - when I go back its like I never left and always feels like I am going to where my heart is. Don't get me wrong...I love Oklahoma and this is where my mom and my incredible step dad are (he stepped in and raised me when my dad passed; however, this post is about my Pap and I will post at another time about my step dad!) But being in Pennsylvania is like an alternate universe. My cousins and I always pick up right were we left off and my aunts and uncles and grandparents always plan adventures - even though I am 30 now!

So, back to my Pap. Some of my best memories are road trips with my Pap and Grandma. There is the one where we went to Washington D.C. where my dad is buried and on the way back my brother and I began arguing about where Harper's Ferry is. My brother said West Virginia and I said Virginia and my Pap got sick of listening to us so he drove to Harper's Ferry to prove one of us right. He didn't though! My brother was right about it being in present day West Virginia but I was right about it being in Virginia when the revolt there took place. If you don't know your American History regarding the Civil War then you will just have to Google it. Then, there was the time (also in Washington DC) where we parked on the street where it said we could but we all read the sign wrong (I was probably 11) and as we were walking back to the car we were laughing about another car that had parked up on the curb. When we finally got to our car we saw it too was parked up on the curb, not in the street where we had left it, and also had a ticket. Apparently the sign was supposed to tell you to move before rush hour or else they would move you (I promise the sign was not clear!) Then there was the time we drove to Titusville which is where the very first oil was struck in Pennsylvania. There I rode on my very first locomotive. That town was really interesting!

My point is that I love my Pap (and my grandma too!) and I wish I could spend more time with him and her. My husband and I want to try and go to Pennsylvania for Christmas. Pap has had some health issues in recent years and while he is strong as an ox right now he does have trouble communicating because of a clogged carotid artery a few years ago. I just feel like I need to spend more time with them...as much as I wish they would live forever I know that at some point they will have to go home and be with the Lord - and I may not be ready for that day!