Hey Mofos,
I am absolutely heartbroken. My grandfather passed away on 3/23 at 95 years old. He was my everything. If you follow me on social media, then you know how much I adored him. I am grateful a few days before he passed, I was able to tell him thank you for everything he has done for me and thank you for loving me unconditionally. I like to think that he heard me.
During his fune, I read a tribute that I wrote to the man that was a father figure to me and helped shape me into the person I am today. I'm trying not to be sad since I know he's with my grandma in heaven, but it has been rough now that they are both gone.
I thought I'd share the tribute here:
“I think a hero is really any
person intent on making this a better place for all people.” – Maya Angelou
My granddaddy is my hero. I know I wouldn't be the person I am today without him. The fact that he's not with us anymore breaks my heart, but I’m forever grateful that he was a positive motivating force within all of our lives.
As a child, I knew that he was the ideal
example of what a family man and father should be. Not only was he the leader
of our family, he was an incredible man who left his mark on everyone he met. I
want to tell you what kind of person my granddaddy really was. To me, he wasn’t
just my granddaddy– he was the father figure that my sister and I needed in our
lives.
He loved his family: especially when we
would all gather together, you could see the joy on his face as love and
laughter filled his home. He would put himself last even if he was under the
weather, to make sure we were all okay. He was proud of all of us and our
accomplishments.
He loved his best friend: my grandma Sue.
I know they are in heaven holding hands now that they are finally reunited.
He loved his cattle: he couldn’t stay
anywhere overnight because he said he needed to take care of them.
He was passionate about being outside, staying busy, and moving around.
He always told me that being able to get out and “work” is what kept him going.
His work ethic was in a class of its own.
My grandma always said he was outside breaking stuff so he could go
outside to fix it so he’d have something to do.
He had a great sense of humor and was better at shading someone than the
Real Housewives. I told him I was turning 30 last year and he said “you won’t
see 30 again unless you look at a picture.”
The sound of his laughter after he said something like this was
priceless.
He was very giving: he had a garden and a variety of fruits– if you
asked for a pear or tomatoes or anything, you’d leave with bags full. He took care of the cemetery and on Veteran’s
Day he would place flags on all of the veteran’s graves.
He loved the Lord, was a faithful servant, he was a deacon of the
church, and until the pandemic never missed a Sunday. He always praised God
throughout his life–even when there was trouble in his way and he knew Jesus
would fix it. I still remember holding
his hand walking up the hill and being dropped off at Sunday School and he would
give me a few coins for the collection plate. He taught his kids, grandkids,
and great grandchildren to pray for others and do the right thing in life.
He was my publicist, manager, career advisor, accountant, and
cheerleader: when I had an article printed in Ebony magazine–he brought it to
church and told everybody–he also made sure to ask me if these magazines paid
me for these articles, and always
reminded me not to accept any wooden nickels. For all of us, his advice was, “do good.”
He was all of those things, and so much
more. While I may not know what the future of our family looks like without our
patriarch, I know that I am a better person because I was loved by him. I only
hope that we all can live up to the example of love, strength, character,
faith, and integrity that he set for all of us. When his house burned down in
2018, and people donated and helped him get back on his feet, he said “I must
have done something right in my life for people to be so nice.”
He definitely did a lot of things right–
job well done granddaddy. Everything you taught us will live on–that’s your
legacy. We will love you forever.
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I want to thank everyone for their condolences, prayers, and checking in on me and my family.
For now, I'm taking a break from writing, doing interviews etc until I can wrap my brain around my biggest fan being gone.
Until later
~Meik
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