Put ’em up Put ’em up

You may have noticed that I didn’t blog yesterday and that is because my grandfather passed away.

For those of you that didn’t know my grandfather, he was a very sweet, funny, hardworking man. He was a barber with his own barbershop in San Diego. He used to sing while he would work, always humming some song. He loved his job and continued working well past 80. When I was younger and would talk to him on the phone he would ask me what I was doing and I, as a teenager, would always say “oh nothing” and he would laugh and mock me saying “ohhhh noooothing” in his Filipino accent. He never understood how  I could be doing nothing,  even if I was just sitting on the couch, I was technically doing something. He loved gardening in the front yard of the house he lived in for more than 40 years. I remember standing out there with him just talking as he would walk around with his little trimmers making sure all of his bushes looked good.

He loved the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz and would always say “Put ’em up, Put ’em up” when I would talk to him on the phone. And throughout the years, when I did get to see him, he would put up his hands like he was boxing (which is what we were doing in the picture above). If you tried to tickle him he would jump about five feet in the air, but he would always laugh and bat your hand away. I will also never forget the time that I was driving through a San Diego intersection and didn’t notice the dip in front of me, resulting in us being bounced around the car a little hard and do you know what my sweet, little grandfather said from the backseat? He said “OW! My balls!”. Ya, I started laughing so hard, but that was grandpa. Technology kind of confused him, he didn’t really know how to use a cell phone, when I would talk to him he would just put the phone down thinking that he hung up, which would leave me screaming into the phone for someone around him to hang up the phone.

He got sick about a year ago and things became increasingly harder for him as he was spending time in and out of the hospital.  Even with all of that going on he was in great spirits when I would talk to him. Always making jokes. I got to see him last August and it was a little hard because he didn’t remember me at first, but he eventually did and his face lit up and he laughed. I will miss that smile and that laugh. While it is hard knowing that he is gone, I know that he is with grandma now and they are happy again. I’m sure he asked her to “Put ’em up” as soon as he saw her. Goodbye grandpa, we love you and we will miss you.