[Blade]

I've had many people touch my life each in their own way. Some in big ways and some in smaller ways that have turned out, in my adult life to have been bigger than I would ever imagine.

One person who touched my life was my Papaw. He had an 8th grade education but lived an exemplary life. A life of helping others, giving his time and tithes to charity and teaching by example in the way he lived his life.

He had the patience of Job, and I never in 40 yrs heard him raise his voice and Mom says she never remembers hearing him raise his voice either. He was a WW2 veteran and when his crew was flown out, he was called back and missed the flight. The plane went down and everyone on board was killed. He thought his life was spared for a reason. He believed the reason was to serve God and be a good husband and father. That was until he became a Papaw.

Papaw wasn't an affectionate type, he'd give ya a little hug. He would say come sit on Papaw's lap and lets do this or that. This or that might have been practice telling time or counting money or just watching TV. He could fix about anything and spent many hours in the basement with me nailing nails in boards and taking me to the pond fishing. He took me to the circus every year as I was growing up and he was hysterical to watch wrestling with.

The bottom line is he touched my life initially by spending time with me, a bunch of time. As I became an adult he still mentored me and gave advice, but as I got older I realized how he had touched my life by the way he took care of Nannie. Unlike many of the men in my family and of his generation he did dishes and clothes and grocery shopping and everything else, even helped her make supper and wash dishes. So how he really touched my life as a whole was threw respect and appreciation for the people he encountered but especially for the women in his life. He taught me to respect and appreciate the women in my life.