Gramps

The first guy to climb the Matterhorn in oxfords…just kidding, and I didn’t dare call him Gramps, he was the Grandfather. Kind of old school, one might say, he was of the ‘children are best seen and not heard’ crowd. From my vantage point now, can’t say that I disagree. He retired at 40, so he could ‘travel’. How, you may ask, does one do that? Since I not only missed that boat, but didn’t even know the boat had docked--can’t really say.

So, he was mostly gone, usually with ‘Gram’ (she was much more user friendly; a lovely and amazing woman). When I would go with my parents on one of our infrequent trips out of the county or to New York, they would meet us for a few days, which I always thought was very cool and a good way to spend time with Gramps. I could never quite figure out the ‘what are they doing in, say, Montreal the very week that we’re there?’ thing. Seemed like magic at the time--Gramps, you were one of a kind, at least in my book, and the walk up that mountain must have been killer.