My Grandpa Wood

For those who don't know, my grandpa was killed in a car accident on June 28th, 2007. I don't know why, but lately, I have been thinking about him a lot. I decided maybe I need to do something...

So I decided to make a list. Here are some things that will always remind me of my grandpa.

1) Buying or eating a yellow golden delicious apple. He used to try to peel them in one swipe, around and around. Then he would give me the peel to eat.

2) A big spoonful of peanut butter with powdered hot chocolate mix. I remember my grandma walking in just laughing and shaking her head.

3) Pears on bread, he used to eat it.

4) Mongolian Mung, a dish he made, which was basically mashed potatoes mixed with gravy, and bacon (yeah, your Sunday leftovers, but for him a special treat!)

5) Driving random roads in the country side, one thing he always loved. Showing off his roads. He died doing what he loved.

6) Going to a yard sales, probably to buy baseball hats. I remember whenever you would go "yardsale-ing" with my grandparents, they would get out of the car, look at everything and make sure they talked with whoever was there selling. Not how my parents yard sale (in and out as quick as possible), but it always amazed me at how friendly both my grandma and grandpa are.

7) Looking at sunsets, he would call anyone and everyone to the window or the deck to look at the sunset. To this day, Jackie won't let a day go by with out looking at a sunset or snapping a picture of it on her phone.

8) Seeing lipstick prints on bald heads, when we were little, we would play in Grandma's lipstick, then run out into the living room and stand innocently behind my grandpa. Of course he didn't know what was coming, but he pretended to be mad when we would leave our mark on the top of his bald head.

9) Baseball Hats (Thousands of them), hanging from the rafters of his house, piled on the washer, everywhere my grandpa went, a baseball hat was bound to be around... somewhere.

10) Suzuki’s, He loved his Suzuki, and started a trend. Everyone at the retirement home had to have a Suzuki, once all of them in St. George were bought, they started buying them from each other and cycling them around.

11) Dirt Roads, up hills to see the view or through the desert to see where they would lead. His friends called him the Wagonmaster. He took them on adventures. He loved it!

12) Joshua Trees, one spring break week, I went to visit my grandparent in St. George. I spent a week with them, and one day, my grandpa and I drove some dirt roads through the desert so I could take pictures of Joshua Trees.

13) “Oh, you little Shit!”, I remember that little expression when we would tease him. He would take a small swipe at us as he said it. He never caught us, and you knew it was said with love.

14) His Hugs, his grin, and the way when I went to wrap my arms around him, he smiled. I can also remember his smell. He smelled like grandpa.

15) His advice of “Well, you don’t need him anyway.” After I broke up with a boyfriend. I was upset and right after he said that I felt better. He knew just what to say.

16) Guineva campground, up Logan Canyon. Every summer, my grandparents would spend weeks at a time at this campground. I remember him going fishing, playing card games, solitaire, golf, and their retirement game Hand and Foot.

17) Breakfast with bacon and eggs, no one could make an egg like my grandpa, I don't know how he did it. Except, Jeff made me an egg over Christmas this year, and it was just like my grandpa used to make. Maybe it is in the genes, but not ones that I got...

18) Crossword puzzles, I remember when my grandparents were in their trailer and in bed, we would go upstairs, and there was my grandpa with his clipboard with a crossword puzzle clipped on, pencil in hand figuring out the answers. I can picture him sitting there, thinking...

19) The Teton’s my grandpa's love. He wanted to be up in the Teton's so bad, that one summer during retirement, he worked at K-mart so he could enjoy the mountains. When we would go up there, he would drive us around to all of the BEST places to photograph. I think he has THOUSANDS of photos of each peak separately. One of my friends had never been up there. I had him drive up and I took him to all of the places that I could remember my grandpa taking me to. Another spring break, Jackie and I went up there and spend quite a bit of time with our grandpa driving around looking at things. He took our picture quite a bit, and I will never forget the Ta Tanka (buffalo) that he did. Surprisingly enough, he did it twice so we could get a picture.

20) Yellowstone, another of his loves. Circling the park looking for animals. He was always amazed at everyone he saw and cussed the people for driving them away.

21) Computer Solitaire games. I remember he wouldn’t cheat even when we showed him that you could look under the cards. A famous story is how one April Fools Day, Jackie and Kelly played practical jokes on our G-rents. They put spaghetti in their toothpaste, moved their dishes around, and the biggest thing was swapped grandpa's computer mouse so when you clicked the left button, the right controls would show. Boy was he mad. ;)

22) Gambling (poker) with Match sticks. Yes, it was my grandpa who introduced us to this game when we were camping!

I have attached a link to my favorite pictures of him or of places he liked or of things he liked (sunsets). I will try to add to this as I find others. I know my whole life I will always miss my grandpa. I want to always remember the twinkle in his eye, the love in his face, and the way he was proud of me. I love my Grandpa!