Thankful Friday!

Right now, I am at my mom's house as is with every Friay. My son is playing with her and I am studying for my classes. I hear them playing and remember the hours and hours my grandfather spent with me doing something and doing nothing. I remember him pushing me on his huge tree swing, playing gin (card game if you don't know), shucking corn, taking me to Rishel's gas station for a lollipop and driving me around Hopwood to see the houses he'd built by hand. I remember him, crippled by arthritis, standing up to yell to me during my high school basketball game because he was so proud.
Pappy was 77 when I was born, I chatted incessantly and he was pretty quiet, he had blue eyes and white hair, I had brown eyes and brown hair, I was tiny and he was huge, we weren't even of the same gender... and yet, we had so much fun together. I can still hear his comments as he tried to cream me in gin. He lived his last years in Florida happily fishing in the Atlantic Ocean every day.
He received a letter from me the night he died... I was 15 and he was 93. We went to Florida and dumped his ashes in the Atlantic Ocean (illegal, I know!) I threw my hard earned state track meet medal in the ocean for him. He made such an impact on my life and I still miss him so.
I am so thankful for this time my mom is spending with my son. Not only because I get to study (yay!) but most importantly for the memories they are building. They don't play gin yet, but they play a lot of other things (right now, it's "car dealer") I remember how proud I was to see Pappy at my basketball game, and I saw that same proud glow in my son's eyes when he saw his grandma at his Christmas play. I can only hope that my mom is able to make the same impact on my son that her dad had on me. I think she's off to a great start... and she packs some great lollipops.
Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of future memories and family.