Friday, May 01, 2009

Vintage Photo Friday—Grandpa

I have been MIA here at the blog for the last couple of weeks, but I wanted to get back on the horse today with a Vintage Photo Friday post.

At Disneyland, circa 1980. That's me sitting on my Grandpa Reeve's shoulder, and my mom with the floppy hat. My overriding memory of him was of his great laugh—a little high and nasally, but joyous. My Grandpa's name was Bliss, which I never thought was odd until I was a teenager and realized it was a word and not exactly a common name. Vivian's middle name is Bliss, in his honor.

I'm not sure where the name Bliss came from. My grandfather's siblings had very normal names like Ruth and Laura. My great-grandfather was a very religious preacher, so maybe there was a heavenly connotation?

In the last few years of his life, he moved in with my dad. Because my grandpa was in the Navy fighting in the Pacific when my dad was born, he didn't see my dad until he was a year old. I always got the feeling that with six younger brothers, my dad never got the attention from his parents that he probably wanted as a kid. But the last couple of years that my dad had with my grandpa seemed to almost make up for that early lack.

More of Vintage Photo Friday at Paper Dolls for Boys.