This is me with each of my grandfathers.  

These pictures are all I really have of them. They both died very young, when I was little. I have dim, shadowy memories of my maternal grandfather, and I’m not sure if I have real memories of my paternal grandfather, or only think I do because of these pictures.

I know now that they both wrestled some pretty strong demons, but of course I knew nothing of that then – I knew them as gentle, compassionate men who loved deeply. I thought them perfect and I adored them. (I think they adored me too, I mean – look at my adorable face! ;) )

On Father’s Day, I wanted to express my admiration for the men in our lives who take care of us and our children, the men who teach us what men should be. And I’ll use pictures like these to help keep alive the stories of the men in our family who are gone. I’ll show these to my girls and tell them all about how my Grandpa W. used to let me put curlers in his hair, and how my Grandpa B. called me Doodlebug.