I have spent a lot of time there over the past year. It has been a blessing. I have learned a lot about life by serving and watching Grandpa.
My grandpa was an intelligent, simple and practical man. As long as I have known him he has been VERY hard of hearing. Thus, he spent a lot of his time in his own head. It seems to me that this might be why he was such an intelligent man! He was a cancer researcher at the University of Utah. He loved to look at slides through his microscope. He loved it so much, in fact, that he worked in his lab every day until about a year ago - when they told grandpa they needed his lab space for something else. Grandpa just turned 89 a few weeks ago. I think he would have lived until 100 if they hadn't stopped him from working.
Aside from microscopes....Grandpa loved cookies, twinkies, dogs, birds, eggs with chili sauce, watching math on PBS, and quietly sitting in his kitchen table chair watching hummingbirds. For the past few weeks, the first thing he would say when I would visit would be "lots of hummers today!.....or no hummers today." His love of animals was such that he would say "GOOD!" when rich returned from a hunt empty handed. I once told him that there was a rat in my back yard and he said: I HOPE YOU DIDN'T HURT IT! Really grandpa?
Grandpa valued education. When I was in college he would sit and listen to me talk about what I was learning and doing. I was once a TA for a entry level class and he would always ask how my teaching was going - every time I saw him. My little sister jill tutors classmates in calculus. He is so proud of her that he would often remark "did you hear that jill wants to teach math when she graduates?!" When I ran out of money for books my senior year, grandpa wrote up a check to cover the cost of books - no questions asked. He knew the value of education! He has been a great influence on my desire and love of learning.
Grandpa Glenn had a few favorite chairs in the house on Lynne Lane. His station in the kitchen was at the head of the table facing the window (as to get a good view of any hummers or dogs walking by). In the living room he sat in the southwest corner in a white winged chair (out of the way, but with a panoramic view of all that was going on). Before the stairs got to be so dangerous, you could always find grandpa sitting in the cool basement in his leather chair, surrounded by 1950's medical textbooks reading an article from JAMA while watching calculus on PBS. Give him a Twinkie and a dog at his feet and I think grandpa could have sat in that spot forever.
When I moved back from Oregon a little over a year ago, grandpa's spot was in the back bedroom in front of a HUGE TV. (he couldn't ever figure out how to change the channel, so it would often be on something goofy like a Mexican soap opera or something....perfect material for a nap). When we moved his white chair to the back bedroom so he could watch those Mexican soap opera's, grandpa started sitting next to the phone and lamp on the pink couch in the living room. I would often find him there reading journal articles with a magnifying glass. Yes, a magnifying glass. Walmart had a special on page magnifying glasses and I asked grandpa if I could buy him one for Christmas last year. He said "what would I need that for?, I have IMPECCABLE eyesight." That's why it was URGENT that I get his magnifying glass fixed when Julia threw it on the ground and broke it..........I don't think Grandpa ever thought that his body had grown old.
Another favorite spot of Grandpa's was in his blue chair next to the stove in his cabin at bear lake. He loved that place. He loved sitting on the deck watching the bats fly over the horizon. He loved listening to the wind blow through the cottonwoods. It seemed he could sit for hours on that deck and simply enjoy the wilderness around him - weeds, birds, deer, badgers (he claims - but no one else has ever seen one), bugs, sagebrush and trees. If he were the ash spreading type - I'm sure that's where he would want his remains to lie.
Speaking of trees, grandpa was a real tree hugger. Their house on Lynne Lane has two big Gingko trees in the front yard. Grandpa would always comment about them: the trees are starting to bloom! They are starting to turn colors! the leaves are starting to fall! The leaves are all gone! "Aren't they beautiful? They are a living fossil you know" He also loved apple trees and apples. If I am remembering right, that came from his dad, who also loved apple trees.
Two of my cherished childhood memories are of times spent with grandpa. My parents often left me with grandma and grandpa when they went on long trips in the summer (I was a whiny little one). So I spent a lot of time with him when I was a preschooler. One summer night I remember sitting outside with grandpa on the front porch eating a push pop (with flinstones on it!) Grandpa was telling me about birds and stars and the wonders of nature. I don't remember exactly what we talked about, but I do remember feeling his reverence for nature and all the mysteries and beauties it contains. The peace I get from watching the wind blow through the trees must come from him. Grandpa Glenn simply loved nature.
My other memory is in the backyard of Lynne Lane. I was maybe 4 and grandpa was pushing me on the swing. He was pushing me so high I thought I was going to land on Mt. Olympus. He didn't say or do anything spectacular. He just stood there an pushed me. The simplicity of the moment is what I cherish. I never felt like I had to say or do anything in particular around grandpa. There was no pressure to be pretty or witty. There was no fear of getting tickled or teased. There were no lectures or long stories. He was just simple. I think the greatest gift he has given me is the ability to just enjoy the simple things. Cookies fresh from the oven, a quiet night filled with stars, a hummingbird at the feeder, gingko trees, fake birds on a Christmas tree............a sunset over bear lake.
The last time I saw him was last Thursday before he fell. I had just made him some eggs and dry toast. He topped them with chili sauce. I gave him his pills, he gurgled them down with orange juice. When we left he was sitting in his chair at the table, watching hummers. I told him I loved him and I'd see him again soon. I know I will see him again. Hopefully not soon! But I will see him again.
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