Being a child is an interesting time...sometimes you tell stories. Stories that may be true, or a bit embellished, or maybe a straight up lie. I'm about to admit a lie I told, a lie that after meeting my paternal grandfather I didn't need to tell anymore.
I distinctly remember being at school after my first trip to Mexico at the age of 6. I remember returning and telling kids all about my grandfather. You see, when I was a kid I used to lie about my Grandpas.
Before that trip I hadn't remembered meeting my Abuelito Leonidez, and I didn't have much a relationship with my maternal grandpa that lived near by... so I lied.
I told kids I had two epic grandpas Grandpa Roger and Abuelito Leonidez. Of course my stories with Grandpa Roger involved the Crayola factory, his pet fish, his cool mail man, his singing, and his toy trolly train. (If you don't know who that fake Grandpa was based off, you should really Google Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.)
After returning from Mexico I couldn't stop talking about my Abuelito Leonidez. This sweet, funny, story telling ranch man. I didn't have to lie about Grandpa Roger anymore because I had a grandpa I loved and admired. He was so sweet and patient with my brothers and I, quite and observant, or laughed when were were like armed banditos with our newly made sling shots. As I aged my love and respect for both him and my Grandmother only grew stronger. I saw the love they had for each other and how much pride they put in the work they did.
It's been over a month since his passing, a pain that was hard for me to face. I think the tears I'm currently fighting off are the reason it took time to write about him.
The pain I saw in my Grandmother, father, brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins was hard. However the love I saw and felt us all share filled me with happiness and pride. They raised loving and caring children. (funny too) The love and respect my grandparents shared will now be carried for generations. Typed words could never do that grand man justice, he was a gentleman of epic proportions, a man who worked hard for his wife and family. He worked until he couldn't, and we just got pine nuts given to us just last month by my grandmother from his last harvest. My aunt shared with me that he was even trying to herd cattle with his sheet as he lay sick. I'm so glad I got to see him shortly before his passing, to hold hands and tell him how I love him and as tears ran down our faces, to hear him tell me that he loves me too.
"Grandparents are both our past and our future. In some ways they are what has gone before, and in others they are what we will become." -Fred Rogers
May the stories of your life live on forever, and love you have for us fill us with warmth, forever.
Siempre estara en mi corazon, mi viejito chulo, mi lindo y querido Abuelito Leonidez.
