Childhood Memento

The Unexpected Gift

            When I was five years old my mother died and my grandparents became my legal guardians.  My grandparents were the traditional type of family where my grandmother tended to be affectionate and my grandfather never really showed his feelings.  I always knew that he cared about me, but he never really said it or showed it most of the time.

            However, one day I came home from school and my grandfather said that he got me something from Wal-Mart.  At the time I collect G.I. Joe’s and Transformers.  My grandfather had bought me a two pack of G.I. Joe’s.  It was the most unexpected gift that I had ever received.  One thing it showed me was that my grandfather truly did pay attention to the things that I liked and what I already had.  It also showed me how much he really cared.  He had just bought me something because he saw it at the store.  It was not for any other reason than that.  I remember it as the first and one of the few times that my grandfather and I actually hugged when I was younger.  Now, we hug much more often since I have been married and move away, but when I was younger it almost never happened.  This is why this has become one of my favorite memories from childhood.