My maternal grandfather, Grandpa John, was self-employed. He first owned a construction company that specialized in steel building construction, then when my mother, his daughter, married my father, Grandpa handed over the construction part of the company to him. Grandpa then just did excavating, that’s all I ever remember him doing, as the construction company turned into my father’s the year I was born.
It was always Grandpa on his dozer, he was the most sought after excavator in the area. I remember a time when I worked at the local gas station/deli, I was in high school at the time, and I over heard these two guys talking. One was looking for someone to put in a basement and a new driveway for him, and the other guy told him that he needed to get John R. out there to do it, because he was the best there was. I, of course, had buy prescription drugs to put in my two cents and agree with the guy, stating that yes John was the best, and he was also my Grandpa. Grandpa did end up doing that basement. I don’t think I had ever been more proud than to be a part of my family at that time. Everyone and respected knew Grandpa John.
In the evenings, when we were kids, we always wanted to go visit Grandpa John and Grammy. They lived just a quarter mile from our house. (It was Grandpa John that gave my parents their land, and who gave me the first two acres of my land, as a graduation present. I then ended up buying almost 6 more acres off of Grammy, after Grandpa died.) So whenever we’d go into our grandparents house, Grammy would be in the kitchen, she was always baking back then, and Grandpa would be in his office, sitting at his desk going over his books. But as soon as we got there, he’d put everything away and play with us instead.
When buy cheap rimonabant he had first started his own business, right after he and Grammy were married, he did some work for a local couple. The husband was a woodworker/cabinet maker and they didn’t have much money, so the man offered to pay grandpa in kind, and he made him this gorgeous desk. It’s gorgeous, solid oak and the top is an inlaid design, a beautiful old piece of furniture. It was the only desk grandpa ever owned after that, and everyone in the family coveted that desk.
July 5, 2008 was the ten year anniversary of Grandpa John’s death. It’s hard to believe that it’s been that long, as sometimes it still feels like he was just here. I’m sure it’s worse for Grammy. Grandpa’s funeral was one of the largest this town has ever seen. The funeral home had to be open for days just for his viewing because there were so many that came, it was crowded in there the whole four days, and there was never a dry eye in the place.
The man who made the desk was there, an elderly man then, and he brought it up to Grammy. She assured him that she still had the desk, and that Grandpa had sat at it just minutes before he left the morning that he died. The man said he had always felt bad that he hadn’t the money to pay Grandpa at the time, and he had always wanted to repay him for the kindness, then he handed her a check. She handed it right back and told him that the desk was the one piece of furniture that John had always loved. He had taken care of it himself, always cleaning and polishing it himself. And that she couldn’t accept his money, that the desk had more than paid off his debt.
Since his death grandpa’s desk has always sat right in his office, where it had always been. A few years ago, my father helped my grammy turn the office into her laundry room, because having her washer and dryer in the basement was no longer an option for her. The stairs were too hard for her to climb. The re-did the whole office, except for the wall where grandpa’s desk sat.
At some point in time, everyone of us kids and grandkids have asked for the desk. Grammy never wanted to part with it though, as it is a part of Grandpa. So it still sits in its same spot, it’s not quite in the shape it had been in when Grandpa died, as Grammy never gave it the love and attention that Grandpa had. It now has some water marks on the top where she watered her plants and they overflowed, and a mark where she had set a gourd and forgot about it (it rotted before she remembered where she put it). But it’s still a beautiful piece of our family history.
This morning Grammy called to see how we were settling into the house, and she said she had a house warming present for us, but that Russ would need to bring the truck down to get it. I couldn’t imagine what she was giving us, or where we would put it, as our house is nearly full as it is. I almost went into shock when she told me that it was Grandpa’s desk.
She knew we were looking for a desk for our son, and she wants him, as the first great-grandson (they had no grandson’s, because my mom had all girls, and my uncle doesn’t have children) to have Grandpa’s desk. And then to give it to his first child.
I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous that my son gets the desk I’ve always wanted. But at least it will be at my house for a while! (Not that I would have been able to use it anyway, as I would be afraid of upsetting my husband, who got me an antique desk, and refinished it for me when I had our daughter. He wants my desk to become our family heirloom.)
