Old age...

Well...here it is. I officially joined the ranks of the hopelessly old. Today's my 60th birthday. I didn't really think turning 60 would make me old all of a sudden but it seems everyone who knows I've reached this milestone wants to know how it feels to be old. Bless their cotton-pickin' little hearts. I'm trying to handle this in a mature way (get it? MATURE?), because I have a younger cousin, Mike, who I've always tried to mentor to and be a good example. Someday he will turn 60 too and I want him to handle it with all the grace and style I'm showing today. Learn well Mike. You only have 3 more days. My life so far has been absolutely wonderful. I wouldn't change anything at all. It's as near to perfect as we're allowed on this planet. I hope the next 60 years will be as great as the first. For the second half of my life I'm thinking about getting some exercise and maybe lose some weight...I crack myself up sometimes. Thank you all for the kind comments, cards, and reassurances that I don't look a day over 59. I love you all...let's go eat cake!!

The trappers....

Debbie decided something other than a squirrel was messing around on our patio at night. The bird bath being turned over in the flowerbed pretty much confirmed it for me so last night we set a trap. It was exciting until I got sleepy at 9 and went to bed. This morning I looked out and found we had a possum. I was disappointed because I was hoping for a raccoon. I've wanted to make a coon skin cap ever since I saw the Davy Crockett movie on TV when I was six. After looking this critter over I pretty much decided I did not want to make a possum skin cap....and Debbie refused to even consider looking up recipes for possum stew. She made me call animal control. They took our catch away before 8 this morning and I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. Debbie did get a few pictures for the family album though so he won't be forgotten. I have the trap set again for tonight. Hopefully I'll get my coon.

The Wealthy...

Grandpas are the wealthiest guys in the world. If you two or three readers take the time to look at the comments on this site you will know what I'm saying. My cousin, Mike, posted about his grandson adding Mike and Nancy's house to his prayers at night. A couple of weeks ago Gracie asked me to be sure to never change anything about our house (known to all as Mammy's House) because it is perfect just like it is now. I'm not sure but I think she plans on inheriting the place someday and doesn't want me messing it up before then. As you can see though, Mike and I, as grandpas, live in mansions and our wealth is beyond measure.

Another story about my grandchildren...They all love to hear my stories. It's getting to be difficult to make the stories interesting to all because of the age range but I'm still hanging in there as the "best storyteller ever" in the minds of these five precious little souls. To honor me on Father's Day three of my grandkids wrote a story for me and put it on a bookmark I will carry for the rest of my life. Jennifer allowed each of the three to give her one sentence each in order by age. They repeated this until the story was complete. I'll share it with you now:

A Story for Papa
Written by Grace, Nathan, and Sam
June 2010

There was once a man named Papa. He liked to eat ice cream, cake, and a big huge cake. One day Papa went to outer space. He opened his rocket door and saw an alien. He liked it. The alien hypnotized him and made Papa laugh by sticking out his tongue and making funny faces...kind of like a clown. And then Papa laughed so hard that he fell back into the rocket. Inside the rocket, he got very cold. He became frozen. He floated into the rocket shower, bumped into the hot water knob and thawed out. He decided it was time to come back to home. When he got back home, he had a wife named Mammy and they hugged and kissed. After they hugged and kissed, Papa had to put on deodorant (because the rocket ship was a little stinky). He decided to go outside and he saw a ghost. It was big! But then he looked closer and realized it was Mammy. He found out that Mammy was tricking him so he stomped inside, went to the refrigerator and got some pie! He ate so much pie that he got a fever. And his tummy started feeling bad. Papa then heard a big boom! He opened his eyes and realized it was all a gigantic dream. The end.

How many of you have had a story written for and about you?!

Have a great day.