Tag Archives: grandpa

Most Precious Possession

Joey enjoyed spending afternoons with his Grandpa Grady who allowed him to search through every drawer and closet in his house.
Old people usually are quite particular about who handles their most personal memorabilia. It’s their stuff, and who wants his stuff damaged and thereby somehow ruin his memories?
On each trip across town to grandpa’s house, Joey found one item, and Grady told him the story behind it. Most of the time, the story wasn’t interesting. Joey didn’t mind because grandpa could make even boring stories sound fun. He also had the sneaking suspicion Grandpa Grady was trying to teach him a lesson. But that was okay too.
Joey pulled out books, a set of plastic Indian warriors and a stained tee shirt with East Texas State University printed on it. The books grandpa’s mother had read to him, the plastic Indians were the only toys she let Grady keep after he turned twelve, and the tee shirt was from his freshman year in college.
One day Joey pulled an old pocket watch from a box underneath grandpa’s bed. The watch’s face was smashed beyond repair. He took it to the old man and climbed into his lap; then Grandpa Grady told Joey the story:
When I left home for college my grandfather Ben gave me this watch.
Ben’s grandfather JimBob had given it to him when he had gone to college,
and JimBob’s father Walter had carried the very same watch with him
during all four years of the Civil War. That watch had been my grandfather’s
most precious possession.
Well, after final exams of my freshman year, my friends and I bought some beer,
drank it, and decided to see who the best wrestler was. When it came time for
my match, I fell down and felt something crack in my pocket. It was grandfather’s
watch.
When I came home in June, grandfather Ben invited me to his house and asked
me how my freshman year had gone. I said I pledged a fraternity, made the dean’s
list and met a girl whom I hoped to see again in the fall. He nodded approvingly, and
then asked to see his grandfather JimBob’s watch. I slowly took it from my pocket.
When he saw how damaged it was, he demanded to know what happened. I told
him I had gotten drunk with the other boys, and we were wrestling around when I
fell and broke the watch. For the next hour Ben repeated how great-grandfather
Walter had protected that watch all through the Civil War. Walter had been a
war hero, and that watch had been a prized family possession for generations and
now it was junk.
Joey’s Grandpa Grady paused. When Joey looked up into Grady’s wrinkled face, he thought he saw tear drops clinging to the old man’s eyelashes.
“Grandfather Ben said he had never been insulted so much in his entire life,” Grady continued, “and he didn’t ever want to see me again. My parents told me I was not to attend family gatherings when grandfather would be there. After I graduated from college I moved away, and when I came home I only visited my parents. Nobody told me when grandfather’s funeral was, and I didn’t care.”
Joey stared at the old damaged pocket watch a long time before looking up. “Are you trying to teach me something, Grandpa?”
Grady hugged him tightly. “Now why would I want to do that? I just want you to know my most precious possession is you.”