Saturday, April 08, 2006

Papa Says...

As Jeffrey would say: Do you remember when...

Do you remember when you were still young enough to believe everything Papa said was gospel truth? I sure do, and the older I get and the more children I have the more I realize how much of it really is true. But I've also come to learn that some of it was just made up for his own enjoyment. He could get us to do almost anything as long as we believed every word. And folks, I'm here to tell you that he didn't stop with my generation.

My kids spent a weekend with Mom not too long back while Leah and I enjoyed a break for our 10th wedding anniversary, and I suppose that Emma Joi must have spent some quality time with Papa during that weekend. Apparently, he let her dip into his pool of wisdom while sitting on his "drawing board" (his dinner tray). I don't know why it's taken so long for it to come to her mind, but just this week she's been sharing all of the pearls of wisdom that Papa shared while she was there. Some of them sound like good advice that he would give, some sound like silly advice that he would give, and the best part is that some of them sound like things she just made up and wants us to believe that he said because, obviously, if Papa said it, it must be true. Oh, to be that young and naive again. :)

Anyway, I thought that you would enjoy some of the great things that she has shared with us:

While eating dinner: Papa says that you always stay sitting while eating.

While in the car: Papa says that you never get out of your seat while driving, Momma. (BTW, Leah was not out of her seat; I think Emma just wanted to make sure she knew)

While getting dressed to go play: Papa says that you always wear shoes to play.

While playing: Papa says that you always play until you're tired.

While petting the dog: Papa says that Lucky needs to be nice.

You get the idea.

I think it's fun, but I also think it's awesome for Emma Joi to know her great grandfather so well that she can look up to him in this way, and I hope that she is always young enough to believe every word he says.

Well, maybe not every word...

3 comments:

Patti said...

What a wonderful story, Michael. Probably your best. The truth is we all can do our best work when we truly believe in what ever it is we are doing. In this case ...Papa...Thanks for such a genuine story from the heart. Just for the record...my next blog was going to be about MY DADDY...In fact I already have the photo saved to a new post....Not the same photo as yours though. Now it will have to wait awhile. It would be difficult for me to follow this ...

Caci said...

I am glad Emma got to spend that time with Papa too. I do remember that my favorite summer vacations were to Papa and Maw-Maw's house, and Papa always made it worthwhile. For a while we believed he was shot in the forehead by aliens, and a booger bit off the end of his finger! Well, now I know he just enjoyed making us laugh!

Michael said...

I remember that.