When I was a sophomore in college I decided to be a vegetarian. I had a quite traumatic experience the summer before, where I was driving to my parents new home with Stef and I hit and I think killed a deer. It was awful and an experience I would wish on no one. I crie and cried and the car I was driving was in the shop for a month because there was so much damage. It was a blessing that Stef and I weren't hurt other than emotionally.
So anyway, vegetarians (according to the PETA website at the time) save 90 animals lives by abstaining from meat products for 1 year. I decided that to give what little restitution I could for the deer's life I had taken, I wouldn't eat meat for at least 1 year (though I ended up going for 2.)
I was fine with not eating meat in general and I've always been a bit picky about the meat I eat anyway so it wasn't a difficult transition for me to make. But I was nervous about telling my family, particularly my Grandpa on my mom's side. Grandpa has always been an avid hunter. He hunted for sport, but also provided meat for his family and my family growing up, often the only meat we had. My Dad and Uncle Dan also hunted a lot, though my Dad hasn't gone for several years. I was expecting my family and Grandpa in particular to make fun of me, maybe make some comments about my choice etc. I was nervous about feeling judged or anyone else thinking that I was judging them for their choices. So I called my mom and said something dramatic like, "I need to tell you something." And my mom literally said, "You're a vegetarian."
Moms just know, man.
And I'm like yeah uh how'd you know and she's just smart like that I guess. I told her that I was scared to tell Grandpa and she was like I'll take care of it. (Once again, Mom FTW). This was just a few days before we were heading home for Early Christmas, which is a Gray family tradition we did every year since I was a kid with my Mom's side of the family. Holly and I got to the house late and it was dark and they were all waiting to have dinner with us when we walked in. And my amazing Grandpa took my hand and led me into the kitchen to proudly show me what he picked up for me in the way down from the store.
It was a vegetarian lasagna.
And I'm the luckiest person on earth because even though it wasn't something he necessarily believed in or agreed with my Grandpa loved me and he wanted to make sure I would have something to eat for dinner.
Grandpa passed away this week and even though I got to know him for 29 years it wasn't long enough. I know that I have been so, so blessed to actually know Doug Gray, not on a superficial level but really got to know him and have memories of times where he did things just for me and took care of me and my family and I'm not ready to let go of that relationship. I have so many stories about my Grandpa that I could tell. He could make me mad and make me laugh all at the same time. He told off-color jokes and never laughed harder than when he made my Grandma uncomfortable. They have always been a unit to me. I'm starting to ramble so I'll close and just say I love you Grandpa, and I already miss you a lot.
You need to copy that story to put on one of the cards for the memory basket. I love it. One of his favorite stories about you was when we were driving to their house, and as we pulled down the lane he was walking up it, so we stopped and rolled windows down. He leaned in and gave someone a kiss on the cheek, and you immediately rolled your window down and tapped your cheek with your finger. He came around to kiss you too, and it just tickled him so much that he shared that story often whenever someone mentioned your name!
ReplyDeleteLove you! Grateful for this man because though a stranger to me, he is a wonderful part of you!
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