G randpa Pick-up

Childhood Memento

Tiffany Ritter

             I have always been close to my grandparents and even today enjoy to be around them for their knowledge, stories, and character. I think that it is very important to learn from those who have been here longer and love us enough to pass on their wisdom. I believe that I developed these feelings as a young child. During my elementary and middle school years, my mother worked with her mother, my grandmother, at a family owned drapery business that was located next door to my grandparents’ house. My grandfather who was elderly did not work but instead took care of my sister and I. He would come and pick us up from school and bring us back to his house until my mom got off of work. This is where I learned to respect those older than myself and found value in others.

             I do not have a specific story to tell, not one where I can recall detail for detail of a particular day but I would like to tell of what I did with my grandfather and how much he meant to me. My grandpa’s name was Price Clay Davidson and he was a veteran of World War II. He always came and picked my sister and I up from school and on our way home from school he would have mints for us to eat. Every afternoon I would sit at the kitchen table and do my homework while Grandpa waited with cards in hand to play rumy, which he taught me to play. He loved to play cards and we would play for hours. Other days he would take deliveries for my mom and grandma and we would go with him or cut boards for the drapery shop and he would let me help run the saw. I remember one day when he told war stories and even tried on his uniform and showed us pictures of him and his friends. I would go to church with him and even there he would always have mints in his pockets.

             I stayed very close to my grandfather throughout my childhood. I spent the night there a lot and watched westerns with him, played cards, and took rides. Every year my family went on a big hike on land that my grandpa owned where he grew up. I have many funny memories from those hikes. As I got older my parents moved to Arizona for my dad’s job and my sister and I lived with my grandparents. My grandfather became ill. He was diagnosed with alhiemers disease as well as lung cancer. My grandmother had to stay with him and leave the drapery shop to other employees to run because my grandpa became to ill to be alone. My sister and I helped as much as we could but my grandpa was a very private person and not being able to do things for himself was bad enough let alone allowing his young granddaughters to take care of him. Even though he was sick we still played cards.

             We knew that Grandpa was getting worse and my grandmother had Hospice come and help out some too with Grandpa so that we could keep him at home with us. Hospice told us one day that grandpa was not going to be with us for much longer because it was difficult for him to swallow food and to breathe. My grandmother could not feed him as often because it caused him more pain to eat than not to eat. That was a very difficult time for her and our family. I was a sophomore in college at this time.

             The entire family was at my grandparent’s home the day that my grandpa passed away. I actually saw him take his last breath. After he died we all gathered in the room where he was until Hospice came and prayed and told stories about him and how grateful we were to have him as the head of our family. Later that same year my grandmother gave my husband (my boyfriend at that time) my grandpa’s coat that he always wore. In the pockets of that coat, not to my surprise, I found mints.

             This is a very important story to me because it recalls the life of a person that I greatly admire and hope to one day be like. Anytime that eat mints I remember him. He was a very special person and I will forever remember my time with him.