Wednesday, October 16, 2024
When I was younger, like 5 or so, I used to think he didn’t know my name.
Every time I saw him, it was always “hey girl!” “Hey jul!”
My little kid mind was convinced he didn’t know my name and how can you not know you granddaughters name?!
I remember calling him and he answered the same way “Hey Girl!” And we talked briefly about how college is going and he complained about all these people making a fuss over him and we laughed.
I didn’t know him as chief, I knew him as Pop Pop. Pop Pop who gives my cousin a drill to carve pumpkins, who loads me and my siblings and cousins into the smallest trailer and lugs us around behind his tractor, my Pop Pop who let 7th grade me use his fancy power tools to make a model race car out of a brick of pine wood. My Pop Pop who I’m still not entirely sure knows my name.
Love you Pop Pop.