Grandpa's going to get buried tomorrow. I didn't really know him nearly as well as I ought to have. I think that's my biggest regret.
Dad once told me a story about him, how he used to make his own bullets. He'd mix up nitroglycerin, I can't remember specifically how he'd do it, but I do remember that it had to be kept frozen so as it didn't explode. Grandpa would fill the bullet, and cap it with wax, then put the bullets in the freezer. Once they were frozen, he'd shoot them at a target taped to the wall in the basement, and the wax would hit the wall with so much force that it would leave pock-marks. I remember once when we went to his house, I checked out the basement wall, and sure enough, there were pock marks in one of the walls. I seem to recall that they were right by the stairwell, to the left as you went down the stairs.
Every so often, when I'd actually get a thank-you note out to them, I'd say I would write more. I never did.
I do remember more about him than that though. When I was little, I was going to try making a door bell for my room. I got a kit at the Harrison Ford Museum, and he and I started working on the electromagnet. He taught me how magnet wire was insulated with a thin coating of plastic that had to be scraped off. I think he tried getting me to wind the magnet neatly and tightly, so all the wrapping lined up nicely. I don't think I had nearly the patience, and I remembered the magnet degrading into a gnarled mess. I never did finish that bell. I still probably have pieces of it floating around my room.
I really wish I'd been a better person when I was little. More patient, with much more self drive. Hell, I still wish I had more self drive, and I probably always will. I have heard it said, that there would be more time travelers if it weren't for the fact that our first instinct when traveling back in time is to kick the crap out of our younger selves for being so bloody stupid. My point is that I guess I shouldn't think too much into it. I was a kid. It's not like I had the mental tools to be able to reach inside and change myself.
Grandpa would have been an incredible influence if he'd had the chance, and I need to keep working to better myself so I don't make mistakes like that again.
Dad once told me a story about him, how he used to make his own bullets. He'd mix up nitroglycerin, I can't remember specifically how he'd do it, but I do remember that it had to be kept frozen so as it didn't explode. Grandpa would fill the bullet, and cap it with wax, then put the bullets in the freezer. Once they were frozen, he'd shoot them at a target taped to the wall in the basement, and the wax would hit the wall with so much force that it would leave pock-marks. I remember once when we went to his house, I checked out the basement wall, and sure enough, there were pock marks in one of the walls. I seem to recall that they were right by the stairwell, to the left as you went down the stairs.
Every so often, when I'd actually get a thank-you note out to them, I'd say I would write more. I never did.
I do remember more about him than that though. When I was little, I was going to try making a door bell for my room. I got a kit at the Harrison Ford Museum, and he and I started working on the electromagnet. He taught me how magnet wire was insulated with a thin coating of plastic that had to be scraped off. I think he tried getting me to wind the magnet neatly and tightly, so all the wrapping lined up nicely. I don't think I had nearly the patience, and I remembered the magnet degrading into a gnarled mess. I never did finish that bell. I still probably have pieces of it floating around my room.
I really wish I'd been a better person when I was little. More patient, with much more self drive. Hell, I still wish I had more self drive, and I probably always will. I have heard it said, that there would be more time travelers if it weren't for the fact that our first instinct when traveling back in time is to kick the crap out of our younger selves for being so bloody stupid. My point is that I guess I shouldn't think too much into it. I was a kid. It's not like I had the mental tools to be able to reach inside and change myself.
Grandpa would have been an incredible influence if he'd had the chance, and I need to keep working to better myself so I don't make mistakes like that again.
I wish we could have gone to the funeral. I too am feeling a little guilty. I always hear about people saying that their grandpas have interesting stories about World War I and II and I am at the point, that I am curious as to Grandpa's role in it and would have liked to had the chance to ask him while he still had a brain.
ReplyDeleteAs for wanting to beat your younger self up, you just have to learn from past experiences and remember that that is how you aren't "as stupid as your younger self" You don't know something until you....know it. But use this realization about how you wished you kept in touch with Grandpa and apply it to those currently living around you. Are you doing something (or not doing something) that if they were to disappear out of your life completely, you will regret your actions (or lack of)?
Two notes: first, it is the Henry Ford Museum.
ReplyDeleteSecond, and more important, it turns out that he didn't destroy his memoirs after all and I am bringing back one notebook's worth in scanned format for you.