“Grandfathers”

Over the past few months I’ve had the pleasure of chatting several times with Bing Tyus about his grandfather, Tower Stevens (Yesteryear Bing Tyus – Part II). And this past Sunday I spent some time with Bing at the ole Stevens home place south of Graceville.

It is clear to me that Bing has a very special place in his heart for his granddad and the ole Stevens home place. I can see the sparkle in his eyes when he reminisces about the good times he spent with his grandfather and about his plans to return to the ole home place to live. I know that we are not supposed to be envious of other folks, but I must confess that I envy Bing and that sparkle in his eyes. You see while the Lord has blessed me in more ways than I can count, I never knew either one of my grandfathers. My mother’s father died almost 20 years before I was born. My father’s father died when I was one year old.

I have thought about this fact on more than one occasion and also the fact that none of my kids have known either of their grandfathers. Both my father and my wife’s father died before any of our kids were born. All this pondering also got me to doing a little digging in my family tree and what I found was alarming.

I can trace my paternal family tree back for six generations and my digging revealed that the last four generations have been deprived of knowing their respective grandfathers. I don’t know about the fifth and six generations, but I know for sure that neither I, my children, my father or my father’s father knew our paternal grandfathers. My Jackson County math tells me those four generations of not knowing their paternal grandfathers spans 120 years and counting.

While I don’t lose sleep over this, nor am I in counseling or on medication because of this fact, it is something that bothers me. And for several obvious reasons, I am hoping that this unfortunate trend doesn’t continue with my children’s kids. Both for my sake and their sake, I’m hoping to be the first Cox grandfather in a long time for the next generation of Cox kids.

Granddads are special and, as attested by the Bing Tyus Part II story, can have a life long impact on their grandchildren. They can have the kind of impact that leaves a sparkle in the grandchildren’s eyes when they talk about grandpa. If you have known your grandfather and have had that kind of relationship, you’ve been blessed. If not, like me and my children, we must settle for looking to the future. Simply Put, I hope the Lord lets me live long enough to break the past trend in my family and to be a “Tower Stevens” kind of granddad.

From the Front Porch: Uncle Bob said the best armor is to keep out of range.