Even though this is a "thank you" letter, there are no words to describe just how thankful I am for my you.

You cried when I was born.

You raised me alongside my grandmother.

You would keep swinging me in our backyard playground if I wanted you to.

You heated up my chocolate milk after my mom specifically told you to stop when I was five.

I never slept in "my room" as a child when I win your room.

You would make funny animal shapes behind a flashlight to help me sleep.

You didn't care how many times I would tell you to "stop snoring", because you did it again anyway.

You brought me to church an hour before Sunday School started because you hated being late.

You brought me to school in my middle school days because you knew how much I hated riding the bus.

Prayer was something you boldly did when the whole family was around for the holidays.

You are from Blount County, Alabama, and whenever we pass the Hayden exit on I-65 you frequently tell us of your memories growing up.

When you and my grandmother first met, you two were in a church service, then eventually courted, and the relationship was taken to the next level of "double dating" with you and your older brother and his girlfriend, and they also married each other.

Your stories of being in the U.S. Navy, Korean War, and traveling as far as New England to the Mediterranean to Greenland will forever be stuck in my head.

You caused my younger cousin to be afraid of ladybugs by throwing one in his face once.

Your recollection of you and your older brother choking your baby brother by stuffing his face with cornbread, and blaming it all on your older brother, despite having played a role in his choking too.

Every time someone asks you about me, you proudly say without hesitation, "He's in college at the University of North Alabama up in Florence."

All these are my memories of my grandpa, or "Poppy" as I call him. Eighty-six years old and getting around better than I can. A "thank you' will never be enough, because he has obviously done so much for me in the statements above. He has done so much more for his other family members, including his parents, four brothers, wife, three daughters, eight grandchildren, and eighteen great-grandchildren. An active member in church, he has witnessed to countless other people who are now capable of joining him in Heaven through the love he has shown about Jesus. Poppy is my best friend, even when I only have the time to call him twice a week. He knows I still love him, and I know he still loves me.

Thank you Poppy, for everything you have done for me in my life.