Twinkies with Paw-Paw

My grandmother has been taking care of people pretty much all her life. First it was her kids and after they moved out, she then had to take care of her parents. She has a sister, but the sister didn’t live close enough to offer enough support. After they passed, my grandmother then had to take care of my aunt who had breast cancer. That same aunt now lives with my grandmother and take care of her.

While my great-grand-parents were still living I did get a chance to spend time with them. However, it was short lived since my great grandfather died when I was 5 and then my great grandmother died when I was 8 or 10. I can’t remember for certain.

Anyway, one of my fondest memories is of my great grandfather. I called him Paw-Paw with a stick because he walked with a cane.

I was about 3 going on 4 for this particular memory. It occurred over time and became like a tradition when I would come up to visit.

My Paw-Paw loved Twinkies. He would have a Twinkie every afternoon along with a cup of coffee.

He would quietly come over and whisper for me to follow him into the kitchen. Since I adored him, I did whatever he asked.

We would go and sit side by side and have a snack of Twinkies and coffee (milk for me). We even have a picture of this “tradition”.

He used to also come up and stand next to me real quiet and stealth like. When my head was turned, he would gently lay the rubber tip of his cane on my toes (always when I was wearing shoes) and pretend that he caught me. He would cackle like only a great-grandfather can. I used to get hysterical at this and looked forward to him doing it every time we visited. I would even go and stand next to him and turn my head on purpose just so he would do it.

He was such a kind and good man. Mom says he was incredibly smart and really, really, really good with his hands. People from all over the county would come to him to have them fix things professionals couldn't even fix.

I wish I would have had more time with him.

On a side note, when did they stop putting Ding-Dongs in foil?

I was reading about this on another site and didn’t know that they had stopped doing this. Pisses me off.

Later,

Mama Dawg