Grandpa Sharp

I wrote this several months before my Grandpa Sharp passed away in July 2008. I never thought I wrote enough to capture my feelings and everything he meant to me so I never posted it until now. Something is always better than nothing. My Grandpa Sharp has Alzheimer's and recently moved into a care facility since it was too hard for my Grandma to take of everything he needed. I've been to Oregon with my girls 7 times in the last 2 1/2 years and I am so grateful I was able to spend that time with them before my Grandpa's Alzheimer's got so bad. We had so much fun and I really discovered how funny he could be.

Anyway, I thought I would write down a few things I learned from my Grandpa. I really think that I could sum my Grandpa up with this motto: Work Hard, but Play Hard

Three things I learned from my Grandpa . . .

1. Work Hard
My Grandpa was a hard, hard worker. He never sat still, he was always, always being productive. I've inherited this personality trait from my Grandpa and though we work hard (or at least keep busy) to a fault sometimes, I'm grateful that he's been such a great example to me and that I've learned to work.

2. Work Hard, but Play Hard
My memories of my Grandpa include him in the thick of family roller blade hockey, riding wave runners at the lake fully dressed, aggressive go-cart racing, 4-wheeling in full riding get up and the various other sports and all of that was late into his life.

3. Family
My grandparents started a great tradition when we were all young of yearly, week-long, family reunions. Our family reunions have now mostly been replaced with mission farewells and homecomings and weddings, but I am so grateful for the relationships that I've built with my extended family and that my grandparents helped cultivate that for us.

4. His Testimony

Grandpa has a testimony of the gospel and I know it. His example of service and his commitment to the gospel has impacted my life and I can never explain (or probably understand) how blessed I am to be apart of this family.

We had a big family reunion that most of us made it to last July and we got a family picture. My Grandpa passed away a week later.

Some things I'll always remember about my Grandpa . . .

• He was always on some new health kick (drinking a gross smelling thick barley-green drink, millions of random vitamins, eat for your blood type . . . )
• I'll always have my short, fat fingers to remember him by.
• He smashed the bed of his brand new truck with his brand new 5th wheel the week he was taking them to go on his mission. He just got in his car and drove off. Later he called and told Grandma to pass on a message. . . "you can pity me, but don't talk to me"
• He bought "post-it" notes like no one's business
• He used to stay with us a lot when we live in CA. My mom would always make creamy chicken noodle soup and homemade wheat bread when he came. He always brought us each a pack of gum.
• He used to watch CNN all day, everyday. I love that after he had Alzheimer's I was there when Anna Nicole Smith died and he watched the coverage all day feeling so sorry for Anna. We finally told him all the things that made her famous and he wasn't impressed. For the rest of the week we kept asking him if there was anything new about Anna and he'd laugh and laugh.