Grandpa Bob Treated Me "Like A Grown-Up"

Will, Caroline & Grandpa. (2007)

JE DESIRE UN CAFE S'IL VOUS PLAIT, MON CHER GRAND-PERE!

--By Caroline 

Grandpa teaches Caroline to play pool.
(Or perhaps, vice versa.) 
A non-educational moment.  

For as long as I can remember, I always looked forward to going to Grandma Rita and Grandpa Bob's house for Thanksgiving. Not just because of the food or the many cousins, or the skits...although those parts were awesome too.  But one thing I always enjoyed was how Grandpa Bob treated me "like a grown-up."  By which I mean, he would engage me in conversations about the obscure etymologies of words when I was maybe five years old.  He never talked down to me.  Instead he talked about linguistics and grammar as if he was talking to a college student.  And little five-year-old me thought that was wonderful.

One Thanksgiving when I was seven or eight, he sat down on the couch with me and pulled out a big green French language textbook from the army. It was from the forties, with zero pictures or gimmicks, and I loved it! He went through the first lesson with me, teaching me the proper pronunciation of "je desire un cafe s'il vous plait" and other first-lesson phrases.  Another year I remember him doing the same thing with Spanish, and even after I went home to Buffalo I would take out the old Spanish textbook he had given me and go over what he had taught me.  Another year, it was Arabic.

Caroline & Edmund

He definitely helped to instill a love of learning, and especially an interest in language.  In later years, I think that languages have come easily to me because of his influence, not only genetically but also because he explained the ways that words shift between languages when I was young enough to really absorb it.  It was such a nice gift for him to give me some linguistic insights at a young age.

Wedding Of
Caroline & Edmund

I also remember reading a book of poems that he had written about each grandchild, along with stories about his childhood.  He was such a good poet, and always a witty guy.  

I love you, Grandpa!