Flashback Friday

Well, it's finally Friday. This has been the longest week - ugh! Normally it's great to have what seems like an incredibly long Spring Break week, but this one was not. I think it just felt super long because 1. I haven't heard from Joel all week :-/ and 2. It's been horribly dreary weather - Rain/Snow/Wind/Gray skies... The sun is just now trying to poke through. Anyways.
Flashback Friday! Like I said yesterday, Fridays are slightly different Thursdays because Fridays will be certain flashbacks to people/events/memories from my past. I can't think of anyway to start off the Flashback Fridays then with my Papa Cobb, and especially since it is March and his birthday was March 9. The biggest and best influence in my life ever!
I can't imagine what my life would have been like without that man. He was a grandpa, a dad, and a best friend to me. I miss him everyday, but thank God for putting him in my life. There are so many great memories that I have of him. Falling on the sidewalk while trying to learn how to ride a bike - Grandpa asks (as you walk up to him, crying, waiting for his magic touch that always makes everything feel better) "You didn't hurt the sidewalk, did you?" - Always making us laugh, no matter how bad the cut or bruise hurt. Or when he was sick with cancer and my aunt came in the house late from work, he scolded her for being past her "curfew" then told her that only the boys can drive the truck. ALWAYS blaming the farts on the day - even when the dog wasn't in the room, or the house ever. First time I was allowed to drive over 30 mph on the road - when Papa let me drive him to the B-Mets baseball game. He said he wanted to get there before Grandma and Aunt Sue, so I had to drive over 30. Sure enough we were already sitting in our seats before they got there. How he offered his car for me to use during my road test. How as a youngster he always let me sit on his lap to help drive the pick up truck down the dirt road to the cabin, or the tractor. These were all great moments. Brings a smile to my face every time I think of any of them.
But I think the most memorable and poignant memories of Papa Cobb was when he was sick and I'd go and take care of him at the house, after he was sent home from Hospice, or went to visit him at the hospital, when he was too sick to be home. Going on walks down the hospital hall, making sure he kept what little strength he had left in him - being the only two that still believed he could beat it. Sitting in the house with him, reading to him every day. Helping him whenever he needed help - including the bathroom. Making sure he ate what he needed to eat, and doing his exercises. Watching the news with him when it was announced that Sadaam Husein was captured - I remember seeing a smile and tear in his eye at this moment. The best one of these is when we celebrated his 65th Birthday. He told me that now that he's had his 65th birthday, he was ready to go whenever the Lord was ready to take him. Because now he knew that my grandma, and all of us, would be taken care of. This was the most important thing to him - that Grandma was taken care of, because of social security. Almost exactly a month later (on April 4th), he passed away. I will always love that man more than anyone and anything in the world. He is one of my inspirations in EVERYTHING that I do. Love him!

Me, in the classy bowl-cut, my sister Erin, and Papa Cobb. :)