Grandparents Day

The Sunday after Labour Day (in the USA, so the first or second Sunday of September) is Grandparents Day.  The only one I've posted about at any length is my maternal grandmother, who is the only one alive as I've written this blog.  My paternal grandparents disappeared when bio-dad left the family, and my step-paternal grandparents died decades before I met my stepfather (who most of the world knows as my father, he's been a part of my life for so many decades), and I also had a step-maternal grandfather.  But photos of these aren't on my digital media, and so harder to add to the blog.

I do have a photo of my maternal grandfather, although he died decades ago also, and I forget why I captured it electronically.

Arnold "Zep" Zimmerman

I've probably be thinking about him because football season just started, and it's still baseball season, and he was deeply devoted to both sports.  He played in college, but never professionally, instead building a truck parts and automotive business with his father and brothers.  We all learned the games at his knee, and I remember attending them with him, or watching many on television.

Every Sunday for decades he hosted a family breakfast at a local restaurant.  I remember sitting at the far end of the table, because I was one of the youngest.  You could hear my grandfather everywhere as he told stories and laughed.

I remember the bowls of sultanas and pecans set around their house for snacking.  All of the family gatherings he presided over (his parents having died long before I was born) with dozens of the very extended family, and friends, crowding tables or scattering through whichever home hosted that event.  The tradition of him singing "Down By The Old Mill Stream" with his brothers - cheerfully in four different keys, and with silly gestures that had us all laughing.  Some of his jokes, at least one of which wouldn't be considered politically correct, but it makes me laugh to remember.

There were not-so-good times too, as there always are with families, but I am glad to have so much happiness to remember.