Granddaddy

Hi Darling,

Today marks 14 years since your great granddaddy passed away. It's hard to believe it has been that long. I can remember so many things about him as clearly as if I had been with him yesterday. I remember the soft flannel shirts he wore and the way he smelled when I hugged him. I remember the many times he stood in the kitchen preparing breakfast for all of us grandkids. I remember the banter that went on between him and my grandmother. He had an easy going personality, which he probably needed to put up with his opinionated wife and mess of children and grandchildren. Oh, the stories he could tell...it didn't matter if you had heard the one he was telling a hundred times, you always stopped and listened to him tell it again.

Granddaddy didn't have an easy life. His mother died when he was young. Alcoholism ran in his family. From a very early age, he lived on his own and worked on a farm. He contracted TB as a teenager, which ultimately saved him from the war, and he lived in a sanitarium for a number of years recovering from the disease. It left him without a lung, and as long as I can remember, Granddaddy had to use an oxygen tank. Despite everything he had gone through in his life, he was one of those people who would truly give you the shirt off his back. He never met a stranger, and his and Grandma's home was always open to anyone who needed a place to stay or a meal to eat.

Granddaddy had a tough life, but you never heard him complain. In fact, one of my clearest memories of him is the from the day that he died. He had elected earlier in the day to have a surgery that would save his life. But the doctors later decided that the surgery was just too risky. When they told him, in his typical fashion, he said, "That's alright." I know that he was worried about leaving his family, but I don't think he was afraid to die. I was by his side when he passed away, and his last few breaths are forever etched into my memory. In those moments, I realized life's fragility.

I don't recall ever talking to Grandaddy about his faith, and he rarely went to church since his health made being away from home difficult. But he exuded the bible's command, "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)". In my lifetime, I've seen many battles and a great deal of hate propagated, often times in the name of the Father. We become so focused on being on the "right" side of the world's battles that we are distracted from fulfilling God's purpose for us. I've come to realize that Granddaddy was the type of Christian that I aspire to be...one who doesn't get caught up in the world's battles but instead focuses on shining a light for Christ.

Love,

Mommy

In Memory of Floyd Samuel Johnson, "Granddaddy"
March 21, 1925 - July 1, 2001