Five Things

I just opened my book looking for some inspiration to blog about and the first topic I look at was "Five things you wished you'd asked your grandmother or grandfather."
Not a lot of you know this but my Grandpa John is on hospice care right now and has been for the last month or two. About 2 days ago they told him he had 5-7 weeks left to live. While my grandpa is by far not the greatest man to have lived, he is a pretty special man to me. I haven't given him the love or the respect that he deserves. I know that his deathbed is probably the most stereotypical time to realize this but better late than never right?
I send him a text everyday, at a random time, just telling him I love him and that I hope he has a great day. I know its not much, but its better than nothing. It's better than I used to do...
I was talking to Bradley a few weeks ago about my grandpa and I said that if I was going to get married and have someone walk me down the aisle, it would either be him or my brothers. I love my brothers to death but they aren't the point of this blog...
My grandpa is a great man. He is kind. He is loving. He is annoying beyond belief (those of you who know him know exactly what I'm talking about). But he is always there and willing to help anyone who needs, most of all his family.
He was always there for us growing up. When my brother and I were little, he would pick us up from Dad and Mom Jess and take us to Mom Kelly's house and, while he smoked like a chimney and I hated it, he always had fun games for us to play. He would drive his truck over the rumble strips making my brother and I giggle and yell about how the truck farted. Stupid yes, but when you're 6 it is the funniest thing you've ever heard. And Cabango! Everyone has some version of the game where if you see a yellow car or bus or construction vehicle, you say or do something and get so many points for it. Well our's was called cabango. We would yell cabango and whoever said it first got so many points for whatever vehicle it was. Pointless, yes, but it was our game and that's what we did. Because we were with grandpa. He would listen to Rush Limbaugh, yell at the radio, and we would all play cabango together.
His tickling was so bad. Not only was he a rough tickler (like left a few bruises because he did it so hard) but he wouldn't stop! It was so annoying and aggravating and to this day I cry when someone touches my armpits because I fear that they'll start tickling me and won't stop (ask Bradley, I'm not kidding). It sucked! It really sucked! But it was grandpa! It was my grandpa.
He's the family member we always warn people about. He will talk you ear off. If you're female, he will flirt with you and inevitably ask you to marry him. Jokingly, of course (I think...) but he would. He would talk to anyone he met about really anything and he always had a solution to any problem. He had a way to do it better. Sometimes he was actually completely right. Other times, I'm not so sure.... But that's just who he was.
While he may not be my inspiration to go out and change the world and he may not be the best and greatest person and influence in my life, he is special to me. He made the car fart and taught me cabango and tickled me until I cried (probably gave me PTSD from it). But he is my grandpa. He gave me the name princess snowflake and was always there. Losing him is going to be hard. It already is and he isn't even dead yet!
I know I haven't been the best granddaughter... I am trying now though. I just hope he knows how much he really is loved.