Grandpa Reagan

my Grandpa Reagan is from a little town in what he calls "God's country"... it's in Arkansas. he didn't pass through the 5th grade because his mom died. he tells me that he had to go out and work the cotton fields, out with the colored folk to pick cotton for a flap-jack a day. he is a simple man and when the rest of the bible-school graduate family starts to get into religious doctrinal debates, he simply says (with a hint of irritation in his voice) "well I'll say... you all have just educated yourselves right out of the bible." he doesn't share his opinion all too much (unlike the rest of the Reagan clan), but when he does it's generally something quite simple and profound. there isn't much that gets under his skin. he says life is too short to let other people get your feathers in a ruffle. this morning i walked outside while fixing breakfast to find him changing the oil on his car. 77 years old and still changing his own oil. he knows what it means to work hard.... and he also knows what it meant to care for others. each night while we're all watching wheel of fortune (a nightly ritual around here), he gets up from laying on the couch, and asks Grandma and I if we are cold. whether we are or not, he adjusts the heat, then gets blankets to cover us both up so that we won't be cold. he truly is a caring man.

it always amazes me though when i hear him tell me how he used to be. back in his younger years after returning from the war in Korea. during the time he would work 3 jobs to provide for his wife and 4 children. back in those days he was an alcoholic. he says "yep, Grandma would go to church and when she returned home, I was already drunk." there are alot of stories that will randomly surface about the past... some telling of how he was in the bar nights after work, and others a bit telling of his anger and temper taken out on others (yes, we have Irish in our blood too)... and now as i try to imagine that man that he humbly admits is who he used to be, it is nearly impossible to think of him being that way. he is a different man. a new man. all of this he credits to first the Lord, then to my Grandma, for loving him and praying for him, even when it was difficult. they both remained faithful. faithful to loving him and believing that the man he was destined to be was so much more than the lifestyle he was choosing to live.

when he woke up this morning and came downstairs for coffee, with his teeth still out he said... "well, I get better lookin' every day!"... and that he does.