Growing up, I was always impressed by grandfather on my mom’s side of the family. My granddad went by the name John Peppers, everybody called him Papaw. My papaw was such a great man. He was so friendly and caring to everyone, even if they were the most unpleasant person in the world. My papaw was a true role model in my life. Like all goofy grandparents he had a hobby and he lived that hobby to the maximum. My papaw’s hobby was trains. My grandpa built and collected model trains. The house in which he lived in was twenty feet from a railroad track. Every time a train went by it felt like an earthquake was hitting the house. We sadly lost my papaw to cancer in 2011. I was at a wrestling tournament when he passed away and I never got a chance to say goodbye and tell him how much I appreciated everything he did for me in his life. If I could have had a chance to say some final words to my Papaw it would have gone something like this.
Hey papaw, I was hoping you'd beat the cancer again, but I guess you can’t win every fight. Life is never gonna be the same without you. I’m gonna miss coming to see you every few months and sleeping on the couch in the living room that turned into a bed, that thing was surprisingly comfortable. I’ll never forget the first time you showed me how to play Mexican Train Dominoes and we ended up playing till 1 am. Theres no way I can play that game and not think about the funny things you’d say. I remember all the times you would draw a bad domino from the pile and say, “Well….damn.” I’m gonna miss sitting in the backyard next to the pond after dinner. That is back when it had fish in it, before Dr. Death the blue heron visited. Those were always your favorite nights because you got to light a cigar. I always thought it was funny how you would tell everyone that you never inhaled the smoke, but could clearly see cigar smoke coming out of your nose as you said it. I will never be able to go into Steak n' Shake without thinking of you. I will always eat a steak burger and orange freeze for you. More importantly I’ll never forget all the encouraging words you gave me when I was struggling in school. You were always one of my biggest fans and you wanted to see me go far, I hope you continue being a big fan when you get where you're going. Saying goodbye to you is one of the hardest things I will ever do in my life. I know I will see you again one day, but I don't how long that will be. I'm willing to wait however long it takes to hear you say my favorite words to ever come out of your mouth, "Hey pal!" I love you papaw and I hope you are at peace wherever you go.
Losing my papaw was tough at the time, it truly felt like I lost a father. Wherever my papaw is I hope he's watching me live my life day by day. But most importantly I hope he's proud of me for overcoming all the challenges i've faced and continuing to work hard to achieve the things I most desire. His encouraging words are the things that give me the drive to be the best. I hope you're up there with God saying, "That's my grandson"
