Living With Grandpa

31 Living With Grandpa It's not easy living with Grandpa. He snores. He spills his food. He forgets things. He can't take his old dog Max for walks anymore. And, he can't hear very well. On top of that, he is always telling me about “ the old days" , or stories that start with, “ When I was a boy. . . " But something happened one day that made me realize that my life was better with Grandpa in the house. One night, as we were having dinner, Grandpa was feeding scraps to his old dog Max. He leaned over too much and fell. He broke his arm. We called the ambulance and it took Grandpa to the hospital. He had to stay there for about a week. During that time, our house was completely different. Max was very sad and would not leave Grandpa's room. My dad had no one to watch the baseball games with. My mom didn't have anyone to talk to all day at home. And I was so used to Grandpa's snoring that I couldn't sleep!

We received many phone calls from people asking about Grandpa. A local policeman dropped by because he was used to seeing Grandpa sitting on the front porch in the evenings. They chatted together regularly. I missed the stories he told, even though I had heard them many times before. I soon realized that he was a special guy, and that he had taught my father to be a great parent. Food came from all our neighbours to show that they were worried about him too. But the real lesson came from a friend of mine who said, “ I wish my grandfather was alive. You're lucky to have him there. " The day Grandpa came back, we had a huge celebration at our house. We now know how important he is to our home and our lives. One of Grandpa's favourite sayings is, “ You never miss the water until the well runs dry. " Grandpa, you are so right!