Monday was the two year anniversary of my grandpa Milne’s death. Still feels as though not a day goes by that I don’t think of him. I don’t mean that in a sad way. Of course some of the times I think of him it is sad, but most of the time they are happy memories. One of his favorite jokes was about a woman that lived on his street. Her name was Lois Rose and his joke went “Lois Rose sat on a tack, Lois Rose.” I was so beyond sick of that joke haha. He said it at least once every time I saw him. It’s strange how much you can end up missing hearing something you were so sick of hearing at one point. I miss giving his lame jokes a pity laugh but I don’t remember them in a sad way. When I am reminded of his jokes I smile and laugh a little, remembering the smile on his face when he got us to laugh, fake or real. He was type of man that saved EVERYTHING. Whenever we had family gatherings and their house we would use plastic plates and silverware, but we were never to throw them away. My grandpa would wash and reuse all of them, I always thought he was crazy for that. Now i’m a huge Ohio State fan, my grandpa, a huge Michigan fan. Every football season it was always a battle between us. I remember one of the years when Michigan had lost to Ohio State, my grandpa told me that Michigan had won the second half because they had scored more points than Ohio State in the second half as if that was more important than winning the whole game. And when I would say back to him “Well who won the whole game?” he would just respond with “All I know is Michigan won the second half.” I miss teasing him about Ohio State being better. And I know he totally disagrees with that statement. When I was little he would call my sister, my two cousins that are my age, and me “rascals” and boyyyy did we hate it. We used to get so mad and he just thought it was the cutest thing. There is a bulletin board in their house with all their grandchildren’s school pictures on it and he would find adds in magazines that had the word “rascals” in them and cut them out and paste them by our pictures. My parents told me that when I was little they told me that when my grandpa called me a rascals I should yell “GO BUCKS!” at him and of course I listened to them. I was too young to remember any of this but I can imagine that shock that was on his face, I bet he thought it was really cute even if I was supporting the enemy. There is a book in our family that we call the “animal book” it’s just a book full of facts about animals and pictures. It was tradition that whenever all the cousins were at their house (usually just thanksgiving and christmas time) we would go into the study with grandpa and we would all look at the animal book. We would be all over him, some on his knees, some sitting at his feet, some climbing on his back. I remember he always said my cousin Jesse was a buffalo and that always made us giggle. He would tell us about the animals and we would decide who was what animal. The animal book times could be my favorite memories with him. There is only one thing that truly makes me sad when I think about him. He was huge into golf. And when I started playing golf for my high school my freshman year he was so happy. When ever I would see him we would talk about how my game was doing and various golf related things. He passed away toward the end of my sophomore year. I had make it a point to go golfing with him that summer so he could see me play and we could spend some quality time together. It kills me that he never got to see me play. He had heard about my accomplishments and about how well I was doing and I know he was so proud of me. But I wanted so so badly for him to see me play. For christmas he would always get me little golf things, a golf notepad, tees, etc. I wish so badly he were here to see the accomplishments I have made in golf. This past year I metaled in one of our matches, held down our team in districts, and played in the state tournament. I know he would be beyond proud me but I can’t help but wish he could have been there to watch me play in states. After I finished the last round of the state tournament I hugged my mom and we cried, we knew we were both wishing he were there. Then talking about it though we figured it might be good that he wasn’t there because he would be talking to me giving me advice during the tournament, which is illegal. I can’t get over the fact that he never got to see me play. He was going to that summer, just two more freaking months is all. After we made it to states I wanted to be able to call him and tell him so badly. I want to tell him that the college that HE graduated from wanted ME to play golf for them. So much that I know he would be so proud of. I love him so much, and know I would have made him proud and knowing that means the world to me.
