Still Missing You…

Happy Birthday, Pop! 

Pop and a Young Shadow

He would have been 87 today.  I’d mentioned earlier that perhaps for his birthday, I’d share more about the man, so here are some rather random tidbits about the Knight’s grandfather.

• He played the violin as a youth.  His older sister presented him with the instrument some years after an estate sale when their father died. 
• He served in World War II.  (That’s where the tattoos came from.)
• He had a wicked sense of humor.
• He never met a dog he didn’t like.
• Like my own father, he’d get a twinkle in his eye when he was telling a tall tale.
• He was quite a golfer, and actually got a hole in one on his home course.
• He loved to work outdoors, especially in his vegetable garden.

Pop feeding Mugsy & Shadow treats

Pop was old school.  He sat in front of my desk, and when we were alone in the office, I learned a lot about what he was thinking.  He didn’t seem to warm up to my explanations that different generations approach life differently, and when he wanted something done, he wanted it done his way, NOW.  There were no grey areas in his life; right or wrong, black or white, and if you disagreed with him, the best you could hope for was to respectfully disagree.

The world is moving on, and there aren’t many tough old goats like him left.  He was a self-made man, and it tickles me to no end that he’s still surprising his own children with skills they never knew he had.  He didn’t go to college, partially because he went to war, but mostly because he came from working stock, and it just wasn’t an option.  That didn’t stop him from a life-long pursuit of knowledge.  He could hold a conversation on just about anything, and taught me more than all of my professors lumped together.

I’m a better person for knowing you, loving you, and being loved by you, Pop.  I hope Grandma V. makes her strawberry cake for you, but it was my honor and priviledge to make it for you in those years in between.