A Visit From The “Old Codger” and His Crew

Brad is a blessed man for many reasons… a lovely bride with mad cooking skills among  among the reasons are his grandparents.  His maternal grandparents {affectionately known as MaMa & PaPa – pronounced maw-maw and paw-paw} have lived long and faithful lives and played an important role in our boys lives.  MaMa had a stroke in January of 2009 and her health began to decline pretty quickly afterward.  She went to be with Jesus in May of that same year.  We miss her…a lot. 
PaPa has done his best to adjust to this “new normal” of living without his wife of over 60 years.  He recently took a trip “down home”, to his birthplace.  He visited with old friends and his siblings and their families who still live in North Carolina.  At 88 years old, PaPa has finally given up driving.  Brad’s brother drove PaPa, NeeNee Linda {Brad’s mom}, and Aunt Sherri {Linda’s sister} on their big adventure.  After a week full of fun, they stopped by our house for a sleepover before heading home to Indiana.  I guess they were looking to end their vacation with some extra excitement!  {snicker}  The Johnson boys excel in creating excitement!  This photo is proof.  Notice young Luke smiling politely for the camera.  Sam has PaPa’s hat and cane, pretending to be an old man.  Caleb and Matthew have stopped squirming long enough to capture this image.  George {the dog} seems to be the most obedient. Amazingly, PaPa is grinning from ear to ear.  What a good sport.  He loves these little squirrely great-grandsons of his. 

On a previous visit, PaPa had been working on a cross word puzzle {one of his favorites hobbies before his eyesight began to fail} and Sam was intrigued.  He very patiently explained the puzzle to Sam, clues to down words here…and across words there.  He asked PaPa how he knew all of the answers.  PaPa laughed {his grin is so broad that his eyes disappear – it’s adorable} and told Sam that when you live to be an “old codger,” you know lots of things.  So, thus began a new “inside joke” for PaPa’s stay.  We all called him the “old codger” and he loved it.   
All of the boys love crawling on PaPa and asking him questions about everything.  They took turns wearing his hat and walking with his cane…and he just took it all in.  It seemed like his heart was full.  I sure hope so…we love that “old codger.”