Grampa Fred

When I was a little girl I had a Grampa Fred. He was my uncle's father. My uncle is married to my mother's sister so Grampa Fred was not a blood relative.

Grampa Fred would come up from Massachusett's a couple of times a year to visit my aunt and uncle, who happened to live next door. He and I became great buddies. He would play cards and games with me and tell me stories. He taught me about the "country cousins" (frogs) and actually had me believing I was related to frogs. He always called them "peepers" and my "real" grandfather called them peepers too so frogs are peepers and peepers are frogs. He had a squeeze coin purse and was always good for a dime and a nickle for an ice cream at Taber's.

As I grew older so didn't he and as he grew older his trips to Maine became less and less frequent. Once I learned how to write I would send letters to him and he would respond in kind. He sent me birthday cards and Xmas cards and a card for just about every other occasion on the calendar. He would always enclose $2.00. He told me that was me and him snuggled together in that card. I loved to read his words, scrawled in cursive writing on the page. I would write to him often because I knew he would always respond and he always did.

Yesterday while cleaning out my basement I came upon a box with old cards and letters in it. There were a few letters from Grampa Fred. I didn't realize it so much at the time, but the size and shake of his letters revealed his age. He was in his 80's, I was barely approaching double digits. He always asked how I was doing in school because school was important. His words of love and encouragement jumped off the faded page and right into my heart. Most of us go through life feeling varying degrees of love. My family has always loved and supported me. My mother and grandmother and grandfather especially so. But it was the simple love between a little old man and a sweet young girl that has warmed that girl's heart. Grampa Fred loved me just because. I'm sure if he was still around today even he couldn't explain the connection. Everyone should be loved "just because"