{great grandpa}

On our way from the airport, a bus driver asked what brought us to Seattle and I told him my Grandpa was getting married in Kent that weekend. He laughed, hard; he was an older man himself. He said, "What? No! You tell that man to calm down! You don't do things like that at our age! Marriage is for you young people."

But if he could've seen my grandpa standing up at the front of the church waiting for his bride to come down the aisle, he would've taken it back.

There was an open mic at the reception after the wedding. I've never wanted to go up and take the chance to say something at a wedding as much as I wanted to that day. I didn't. I sat on my hands. But if I had gotten up the nerve to, this is what I would've said:

I'm not the kind of person to keep every card I've ever received in a box under my bed. I don't have that kind of storage space, and I know I'd never go back and read them all again. But I have kept one or two over the years, just the very special ones. One of the ones I've held onto was from Grandpa Martin. It's from Christmas 2011, the very first one after Grandma passed away. The front of the card has two birds on it, and in pen Grandpa drew a little arrow pointing to one of them and wrote: 'That's a love bird, there.'

On the inside he wrote a sweet note which ended with, "I pray daily for all that concerns you. Love you much, Grandpa Martin. My prayers follow always." 

Grandpa has told me on several occasions that he prays for me every single day. It's a simple thing, but it's a beautiful commitment he's made. It speaks volumes to me, it challenges me, and it makes me feel special. So I kept the card.

When we found out that I was pregnant with Sullivan, we went down to Frontier to tell all of our family in person. We had Grandpa over for supper and in between bites of mashed potato, I told him, "You know, you're a great-grandpa." 

He looked so caught off guard, and he blushed and stammered a little before I handed him my phone, which had a little black and white ultrasound picture on the screen. "Oh!" He said, "A great-grandpa! I thought, ha, I thought you meant I was a 'great' grandpa..."

But you're that too, Grandpa Martin. You're a great grandpa, and a great-grandpa, and a great great-grandpa. And I love you a lot and I'm blessed by you and encouraged by you and thankful for you and challenged by your faith. Plus, you make me laugh, and I like that. I'm so happy for you and Sylvia. Happy, happy wedding day, lovebirds!