A father, a grandfather, a hero

My grandpa has lived a long life, but the past few years he hasn't been able to really live. He suffered a few strokes and was placed in the care of professionals. I have not seen him in almost nine years. I may never see him again. But my grandpa was a huge part of my childhood and took care of my sister and me when my mum was at work. My dad was thousands of miles away so he also acted as a father to us. I know his children love him dearly, as do all his granchildren, as do I. The memories I have of him are childish, as I was only little when we were with him, but he was a real hero to me, he was my grandpa. I remember that he was so deaf he couldn't tell if he was the one that passed wind or if it was one of us kids that "popped", he made us giggle even when he was sleeping because of his funny snore. He had funny friends, one called cookie, who had ways of getting more of the orange vitamins that we liked so much from the old age care givers . He walked with a cane because his leg was broken in WWII. He painted the most wonderful water colours I ever saw. He took us to Ray Lodge park with my mum, to swim in the river, even though we would get all muddy and covered in Leeches. He let me ride my bicycle around on the gravel on the way home from school because I liked the crunching noise it made and helped me imagine I was driving a car. He taught me to draw, mainly horses for a reason I can't remember, but it must have been good because i can still draw a pretty good horse even now. He taught me about money with all his cut up magazines that I found in his waste paper bin. He taught me how to grow spider plants from off shoots of a mother plant. It's funny but just the other day I found a spider plant and showed my friend exactly the same thing. The scent of baked apples reminds me of his little apartment in London, and I often think of the little yellow muffin things he used to bake, but I can't remember their names. These are small memories, but they are mine, and he will always be with me.