Great Papaw Elmer Really did Tell Henry to Go Ahead and Get Into Anything He Wants To!

Dear Henry, 
I wanted to include this post because it is likely that by the time you're old enough to read this your Great Papaw Elmer, 86 years old, Grandma P's dad, won't still be around and you may not have been old enough at his death to have memories of him.  He is something else.  I'll just start there.  Mama's cousins who may be reading this are nodding their head at that statement.  Old Elmo can be pretty charming, bold and STUBBORN.  Whatever one might say about the many moods of the man there is absolutely no doubt he has a special feeling about you.  Great Mamaw Mergie too.  He cuddled with your blanket and had you sit on his lap and play!  He allows you to touch his cane and walker, even encourages it!?!   GMM tries to dig up things around the house for you to play with while you're visiting (the ball was a hit but the glass flower thing Mama had to pry from your hands).  She blew bubbles and chased them with you in the yard for 20 minutes!  

GPE has had about every health problem a man can have and he is still kickin' it around, despite currently being weak from kidney failure when you come near him he sparks up and his visual and audio acuity seems to recover.  Perhaps it is because the day J called us saying her water broke I was shufflin' the couple out of Walmart with a mega sized box of honey buns and fresh razors, to the car to hear a frantic message from Dadoo to get my butt back to Bloomington ASAP!  I freaked out, cursing up a storm and speeding them back across the 8 miles of twistin' country roads to drop them off, only to have Mergie tell me, "You don't really need to rush off, you should just stay a while."  GPE pipped up, "Marge! She's got to go!  The baby is coming!  She doesn't have time to sit down!"  At any rate, they see your specialness and don't hesitate to tell me how good lookin', smart or strong ya are 15 times during a visit.  This means a lot to me...some people have a hard time understanding why we choose open adoption, because they are old school I wasn't sure how it would go around them.  I wrongly sold them short.  It didn't even take them time.  They laid eyes on you and beamed like you were gold, because of course, you are!...all that being said, I never thought I would live to see the day when Great Papaw Elmer would say to any child after helping them down from a stool, "Go ahead and get into anything you want to!" 
 

















Mama grew up certain the man's first heart attack was due to the fact that the grandkids couldn't get it through their pea brains to, "SHUT THE DAMN DOOR," quick enough to keep the air in and to keep the flies out.  This is clear proof they think you're something else.
Love, Mama