Grandpapa and the Fonz

At the supper table yesterday, I asked my granddaughter Katherine if she would bring me a glass of water. While she was heading towards the kitchen to do so, Victor, her little brother, lifted his empty glass and said, “What about me?” Katherine replied, “Grandpapa is a guest, and we serve guests, but you can get water yourself.”

Later, as the conversation turned to designs on tee-shirts. Victor got creative and exclaimed, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a whole lot of kids wearing the same design on their sweater. It could be grandpapa holding up his thumbs like the Fonz and the caption could read, “J’aime grandpapa!”    

My granddaughter Katherine got to know her great grandfather Ernest before he passed away a few years ago. She called him “grandpapa great”. Listening to my grandchildren last night, I thought to myself, “I may not be able to claim the title “grandpapa (the) great” but being treated royally as a guest of honor by my grandchildren and being considered worthy by them of featuring prominently along with a pantheon of superheroes and celebrities on tee-shirts was certainly honor (and joy) enough for me.