"How lucky was I To have had something so great that makes saying good bye so hard" This is one perfect description of my grandfather. I can't begin to describe the ache in my heart to think that I won't get to make any new memories with him but what dulls this ache just a little are the 21 years of great memories that I did get to share with him. Not many people had a Papa like mine but I guess that's because my Papa was special. Who else can say that their grandpa earned the nickname the angry American in their family? (It's a long story but trust me it's funny)
As I am torn with grief, I can't help but think of memories I shared with Papa. I'd like to share some now. Starting at a young age, I think all my cousins and I can say we leaned one of papa's favorite 3 word lines, "pull my finger." For being one with a stoic expression for getting the nickname of the stern one, I think I got some special treatment thanks to being the only granddaughter for 18 years. Every Christmas, papa would get all the girls of the family (for a long time it was a whopping 4, my mom 2 aunts and myself) a gift. Every year, i looked forward to this gift. A special gift that was meant just for me. Another gift that I was blessed to receive from him was my very own handmade doll house. With the help of my uncle mike, papa constructed a full on dollhouse complete with wallpaper and a stone porch and just this thanksgiving we had a conversation about how much that dollhouse means to me.
Another synonymous memory tied to Papa is spring break. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of my spring breaks with him and Mimi exploring new cool places. Las Vegas, Ron Jon surf resort you name it. I vacationed in style with them. A favorite memory from spring break is one where my mom got super bad food poisoning on the drive down to Florida, so when we stopped to stay the night in what I believe was Georgia my grandparents offered to take my brothers and I out to dinner. Well, here is Papa behind the wheel of my Mom's huge conversion van at the time and he is getting annoyed because we can't find a place to eat. So what does he do? Pull a u-turn in some random hotel's front yard to get us kids some KFC. Another memory I have is from when I was really little and we would go to the beach and just dig holes. Or the summers we spent building and rebuilding that brick wall in the front of their house, in true fashion of all grandkids helping out. Or when we would all play Phase 10, otherwise known as Get Mimi in my family, and he would leave after getting a little too salty that he was losing. The man always lost. And you know what he would do after, go and watch the weather channel. I've never found someone who truly loved that and Hannity so much.
My grandfather taught me a lot over the years. He taught me how to fish, how to ride a Honda and how to love. He loved Mimi so much and I loved listening to stories that he would tell about their high school days together, I mean classic high school sweethearts, the very best example of them. My most recent memory of Papa comes from this past Thanksgiving when he came to celebrate at my house. I recently turned 21 and so I came home with my newest favorite drink, Not your father's root beer. He had to try and he ended up enjoying it so I went out and bought a 6-pack of another beer for the week I was home and he ended up enjoying some of that too. Here is me and Papa just enjoying some brews together talking life. What a perfect memory. And then comes Thanksgiving dinner & man did Papa know how to give Mimi a hard time. If you could of heard some of the sass he had given her and the laughter of my family, you would know we were all together as a family.
There is a lot of things that I'm going to miss about my grandpa, especially his signature cough, his love of those camo crocs, the hi kac I would get from him, getting told to move from in front of the fireplace during the winter, and his tenacious spirit and zeal. One of the things I will miss the most is the duo of Mimi & Papa serenading me Happy birthday every single year. My ultimate favorite part was his added "cha cha cha kumbya" I am proud to have been the granddaughter of Richard Monahan and I can say that I truly have a lifetimes worth of memories to keep me company until I see him again and hear his famous line, "Pull my finger" once again.
