Mean and Ugly As Ever

Today my grandpa passed away, peacefully in his sleep (from what I hear). I have lost track of exactly his age. 92? 93? I'm not sure I keep track of years over 90 as a general rule. Old enough. A few weeks ago my sister and I and Mr. Pumpkin and Wee Pumpkin and my sister's kids all went to visit him. We told him we loved him. We sat and had our photos taken with him. And all the kids gave him kisses. I feel good about that, but of course you always wish you had more time with the people you love.

These are some of my favorite memories of H.M.P.:

--His favorite response to "how are ya?" was always, without fail, "Mean and ugly as ever"
--We all got a good laugh when he attempted to help grandma make dinner and he mistakenly added chocolate milk to the mashed potatoes
--He often slipped me nice, crisp fifties when no one was looking
--He wore bib overalls on just about every occassion for decades
--He was quiet
--In his younger days, he did a lot of "bossing around" which has become a family legacy
--He took a lot of crap from my grandma and didn't make a big deal of it
--He called me kid I think until I was 30
--We took him to a really great pizza place -- a place known to have some of the best pizza in town -- and he ordered fried chicken

I'm hoping he's in a better place now, maybe with grandma, or maybe off fishing with his buddies, or driving cars. Wherever he is, I'm sure he's mean and ugly as ever.