"Wood-Chopper"

This one is hard to write, so I'll do my best to make sense as I do. 


This morning, my mother's dad, my grandfather passed away. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when I was young. My mom, brother and I lived with them for a while when I was a kid. Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop we called them.


There is a lot that can be said about Pop-Pop. I wouldn't attempt to say it all here. But I can say that his time on this earth was full of life. You always new where you stood with him, and you always knew his opinion about things. He was one of the funniest people I ever met, and was always ready with a good joke. He laughed with his entire body.


When I was young, I would help him with his projects. He'd refinish old wardrobe trunks, build things, and fix stuff around the house. He was always tinkering with something. And I was his helper. Many times I would help him out when he was cutting wood. Most of the time he was doing the cutting, but he took to calling me Wood-Chopper. The nickname stuck.


Years later, when I graduated college and was teaching martial arts in my own program, he came by to watch me in a demonstration. I was performing a HapKiDo self-defense demo with Shelby, and he got to see us in action. 


After the demo, he pulled me aside and told me he didn't sleep well that night. The demonstration had bothered him a little, and he wanted to talk with me about it. I'll never forget what he said:


"Chop, I didn't know you could do all that. You're name has a whole new meaning now (I also did a little board-breaking in the demo). You can chop people down! I knew you studied this stuff for a long time, but I didn't really understand it. Now I see that you're a nice guy who can do some damage. But you don't go around acting like a tough guy. Good boy."


For a man who served in WWII, member of the Greatest Generation, it was one of the biggest complements I could have received from my grandfather.  We didn't always have the same interests, or see eye-to-eye on philosophy, but we both knew there was always a deep respect and love there. No matter how far away we were, or how long it had been since we talked.


I'll miss you and always love you Pop-Pop.


Your grandson,
Wood-Chopper