It's almost five years since his passing, and together with my Nan who we lost in 2003, there's not a day goes by that I don't think about them.
This sounds very sad, but it's also happy, because I feel utterly gifted to have had two such special, fabulous people in my life until well into my thirties and forties.
I adored both of my grandparents, but it was a family joke that my grandad and I doted on each other. Through nothing more than an accident of birth, I was the daughter he'd always wanted but never had, I was also his only grandchild. He was the soft touch that I could wrap around my little finger and oddly enough this appeared to be something he was very proud of!!!!
Here's a little picture of my Nan and Grandad, taken in about 1998, on a trip to a country park in the Isle of Wight. I know my Grandad would want me to point out that he wasn't in the habit of wearing dirty, stained clothes - he'd been feeding the animals and his trousers were covered in goat and deer spit!
Here's also a little post I made a couple of years ago in tribute to him. This is a delightful little story and sums up who he was to me - a fascinating man with a long and rich life, full of experience and humour and knowledge, and for me the best thing of all was simply that he was my Grandad.
Happy Birthday Grandad!
