Tuesdays With Pappo - Powerful Kisses

 Tuesdays With Pappo

May 16, 2024

#tuesdayswithpappo

One of the many things my Pappo is known for at his Independent Living Apartment is handing out kisses on the heads of all the women.

I've watched him go from table to table at lunch time kissing each woman on the head and telling them how pretty they are. They look up at him and smile....which then initiates a never-before-heard "giggle" out of him. It's such an endearing sound that pops out of him that it gives me a chuckle each time I hear it.

This week, we were headed out of his apartment to go to lunch when a woman I've not met before came down the hallway. As she got to his door, she looked him in the eye, leaned her head down and pointed to the top of her head. He giggled....she giggled....then he leaned down and kissed her on the head.

I simply can't make this stuff up.

She then went on her way to her apartment....happy.

These moments.....watching my Dad and his friends depending on each other for friendship, affirmation......and yes, giggles, does his youngest daughter's heart good.

As I headed the 1-1/2 hour trip home remembering my time with him, I also found myself wanting a kiss on the head from Pappo.....and I couldn't help but giggle.

Mothers Day 2024

 A 12th Mothers Day has passed......since you passed, Mom.

Hardly seems possible....because, truth be told....I have felt the warmth of you with me each day of those 12 years. I may not be able to physically hold your hand today, Mom, but I have something even greater: I have a piece of you living inside of me.

Your smile, your voice, your wisdom.....they are all still wildly alive within my soul. So you see, Mom, you didn't die....you've never been more alive than you are right now!!

And this daughter.....well, she wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Mother's Day to the Greatest Mom To Ever Live

Tuesdays With Pappo - If Hands Could Talk

 Tuesdays With Pappo

#tuesdayswithPappo

May 2, 2024

Perhaps one of the most wonderful of all gifts from God is the human hand.

My Pappo’s hands are an absolute marvel...27 bones, over 30 muscles and that magical left hand has an artery that runs straight-up into his HEART!

These days, it’s Pappo’s hands that help him walk. They push the walker that gives him freedom. They hold the Dallas Morning Newspaper each morning that keeps his mind sharp as a tack . They are learning to thread the needle and sew his initials with his only granddaughter.....and they are teaching those around him how to be Grateful and Thankful in all things. These 96-year old hands God handed him so many years ago have stood the test of time.

Oh.....If hands could only talk......the stories they could tell!

Tuesdays With Pappo - These Hands

 Tuesdays With Pappo

#tuesdayswithpappo

April 18, 2024

These hands.....they've seen a lot of life..

They caressed my blubbery skin as an infant....they spanked me quite often as a pre-teen....they frantically grabbed the steering wheel while teaching me to drive as a teenager....they handed my hand over in marriage as an adult....and they placed themselves on the casket of our Mom as his way of saying "Goodbye" to his wife.

These hands.....the hands this week that, when I asked him where he got the Dallas Cowboy eye glass holder on his end table, he looked me in the eye and, knowing I was desperately not a Dallas Cowboy fan (because of Jerry Jones), promptly started ripping the Cowboy logo off.

Now that's TRUE LOVE, folks!

Tuesdays With Pappo - Incarceration

 Tuesdays With Pappo.....on Thursday.

#tuesdayswithpappo

April 12, 2024

Pappo Has Been Incarcerated.

Or so he says. When we first moved Pappo 2 years ago from his home of 60+ years in Garland to his new community in Keene (a community he always said he wanted to live in, by-the-way), he pointed towards his new apartment building and firmly stated to his new son-in-law Wayne, "That's where they're incarcerating me."

Such a drama king.

He was half kidding/half serious at the time, but two years later, he's still using that as his "catch phrase" whenever he wants a reaction. Us three kids just roll our eyes.

Truth is, he has great friends living among him here. The women love that he kisses the tops of their heads in the dining room and tells them how pretty they are. He has coffee with the men. He leaves sweet notes for the dining staff on his napkin. And he has become quite "settled" in and happy here.

Last week, he said he wanted to put a picture of himself behind bars on his apartment door. His "Incarceration" has become his identity here. So I thought to myself..."If he's going to talk the talk....I'm going to walk the walk" and surprised him yesterday with a picture of himself behind bars that is now proudly hanging outside his door with the sign, "Can't Fix Stupid".

Yep.....Welcome to Cell 108!

Tuesdays With Pappo - This Man

 Tuesdays With Pappo (On Thursday this week)

April 4, 2024

This Man......

I call him Pappo (Pop-O).....

He calls me Softie....

It's been my name since the day I was born.....He named me that after seeing his fat rolly-polly 3rd child laying in the bassinet. I'm not sure he even knows my real name.

It's always been Softie.

I used to BEG him not to call me that in front of my friends when I was a teenager. Funny how we change with time. Now I cherish hearing the name Softie fall out of his mouth....

#tuesdayswithpappo

Tuesdays With Pappo - 35,040 Days

Tuesdays With Pappo - 35,040 Days

March 26, 2024

35,040 Days……

840,960 Hours……

31,536,000 Seconds……

This is the amount of life lived by this man.

Today marks Year 96.

A lot of life has been seen by him….and a lot of Joy & Sorrow has been felt throughout those 31,536,000 seconds.

My Pappo (pronounced Pop-O) is a unique guy. It’s inbred in him to “learn” new things. Whether it’s sewing, or learning to play the mandolin and the piano, or the Spanish language, he never stops wanting to “learn”. I think that’s why God has blessed him with 840,960 hours on this earth. He still needs to learn…..

This week? He’s learning stocks and bonds.

As we celebrate this student of Life named Jim Calloway today, we thank God for giving our Pappo extra sand in his hourglass of Time.

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Tuesdays With Pappo - No Words Needed

Tuesdays With Pappo

#TuesdaysWithPappo

March 26, 2024

Happy 96th Birthday, Pappo

No words needed.....

Tuesdays With Pappo - A Learnin' Man

 Tuesdays-With-Pappo-on-Wednesday.....

March 6, 2024

My Pappo was born with a mind that thinks mechanically. He knew what a computer was before Steve Jobs did. He was making video slideshows (and taught his daughter) before there was software out there to do it with. He is fully equipped with an Iphone, Ipad, laptop and smart TV.

And knows how to use them....

And although he is a spit away from 96 years old in a few weeks, he still has a deep desire to "learn". Always learning. Today, he told me he wanted to get proficient in speaking Spanish. He doesn't know a speck of Spanish but he wants to learn! Last week, he was repairing broken walkers at the Independent Living Center he lives in. This week....a second language.

Always A Joy.....

#tuesdayswithpappo

What Do People Read In Your Life?

What Do People Read In Your Life?

February 8, 2024

At the beginning of 2 Corinthians 3 in my worn out Bible, there are handwritten words that read, "What do people read in your life?". My handwriting....I must have titled this chapter years ago when I first read it......and it reminded me of something I witnessed while sitting in church many Sundays ago.

While living in East Texas, I found myself sitting behind a family of four in church one Sunday. As I watched the man put his arm around his beautiful wife, he pulled her in close to him....she put her head on his shoulder.....and then I noticed a little man of 5 years old standing on the pew between them. He put his mom's face in his tiny hands and kissed her on the cheek....she smiled lovingly at him. He then turned to his Dad...kissed his cheek and placed his little hand right on the place he had just kissed...almost like he was sealing the kiss there forever. There also was a daughter.....probably about 11 or so.....whose head was resting on her Mom's other shoulder. There wasn't a centimeter between them. The four of them were huddled so close together in each others arms, they became one.

This little family's love for each other shone like a beacon throughout the entire church to me....it's all I could see and couldn't take my eyes off the love happening a few rows ahead of me.

And to me, this was exactly what Paul was desperate to tell the people of Corinth....and to us today.....in 2 Corinthians 3, "Your lives are a letter written in our hearts. This "letter" is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts."

Did you catch that? Our lives...how we live them, whether in public or private, is the actual truth of our hearts. I would bet this little family had no idea anyone was watching them....they were simply living out the true love in their hearts for each other. Paul would have been so proud sitting behind them......

Which brings me back to the question I wrote in my Bible so long ago,

"What do people read in your life?"