Writer's Workshop: Remembering Grandpa

The Prompt:
Tell us about Grandpa.

My grandfather was a mechanic before he retired. He would always fix my car whenever I had a problem with it. When my radiator blew up, he lent me the money to get it fixed. After I sent last check, paying him back, he sent me a card, thanking me. He said that out of the seven grandchildren that had borrowed money from him in the past, I am the first one to ever pay him back.

My grandfather was an avid fisherman. The whole family would go camping in the mountains each summer. While the children played, the aunts sunbathed, and the uncles drank and played cards, my grandfather would spend the entire day on the boat in the lake, fishing. He would come back to the campsite in the afternoon with a string of trout, and at night we would have fish frys. The trout was fresh and delicious, the fire was warm, and the stories were flowing like wine.

My grandfather was a lovable playmate. Not afraid to wrestle with me on the floor after a hard day at work, always willing to play catch in the backyard or watch me dance like a ballerina, always calling me Shorty, even though I was nearly as tall as him by the time I was 7 years old.

I remember all of this about my grandfather. He remembers none of it; he's been suffering from dementia for several years now. It is very rare that I go to visit him anymore. I want my last memories of him to be the ones I had when I was 4.

(go to Mama Kat's, choose a prompt, and write your own!)