A new day A new experience

Today is my Grandpa Gregory's birthday, March 26, 1859. He died on February 17, 1943 when he was 84 years old. He was my Mother's father. My Grandpa lived with us most of the time when I was a child. He died when I was about 16 so I have very fuzzy memories of him.

He was very hard of hearing so I never got to have much of a conversation with him. My main memories of him are of his sitting in a rocking chair and reading. He was an avid reader. However, he never learned to read cursive writing nor to write it. So if he got a letter written in cursive he had to have someone read it to him.

He liked to sit outside in the good weather. He had a rocking chair that he sat in and he also had a cot that he used to take naps on in the yard.

He had a habit of eating whenever the mood struck him and many times he would be up in the late night hours making flapjacks or frying cornbread and enjoying a midnight snack. I also remember him taking big spoonfuls of baking soda because he got heartburn. Probably from his sporadic eating!

My Grandpa was politically minded and he kept up with all of the political goings on. He read the newspaper from cover to cover and he loved talking with anyone who would oblige him about politics.

He liked a little nip of whiskey sometimes and that was a point of contention between my Mother and him! She usually won out and kept the house free of it.

Grandpa Gregory has been gone many years but sometimes I wish I could see him again and have a political conversation with him.