My Amazing Grandfather (Grandpa) :: Personal Narrative Profile Essays

Personal Narrative- My Amazing Grandpa I dont have a lot of fantastic memories of childhood. There were no spectacular family adventures, no unique family projects that taught some sort of moral lesson, no out-of-the-ordinary holidays. We ate family meals together, but most of the time the children and adults lived in different worlds. The kids went to school, did homework, and played the adults worked. I was lucky, though. When I wanted a little of both worlds, I could always turn to Grandpa. I remember vividly the weekends at his house. Sitting on his lap, pass to wrestling matches, walking down the street or with a park--these were things I did with Grandpa. I wasnt just a kid to him I was his granddaughter, and I was special. He was special too. Grandpa was a giant of a man. He stood six feet two inches and weighed over 250 pounds. He moved with purpose and carried himself with respect. Tom was a eminent man, a good man, and all who knew him said so. Even if yo u didnt know him, you would notice his inner strength, his patience, his self-esteem. Grandpa wasnt a scholar. In fact, he didnt even make it through grade school. He was born at the turn of the century, and educating black men wasnt a necessity then. He went to work when he was sixteen, and for the next forty historic period he worked in a coal factory. Then he worked in a steel mill for another twenty years. He stopped operative only because the steel mill closed and he was too old to find another job. When I was with Grandpa, I could be a child and that see things through grown-up eyes. You see that tree, Cookie, he would say. That tree was here before those houses. God put that tree there man put the houses. Which is more pretty? If I climbed a tree, he didnt say, Get down. He said, Climb it right so you wont fall. You appreciate what you work for, he used to say. He taught that lesson well. He neer let me win any game he taught me to win by learning to lose .