It’s funny how you know that someone who is sitting up in heaven is still here on earth with you. If hands could turn back time, there is so much that I would say to you. There is so much that lives within me that is evident of things that you taught me. I remember watching you create beautiful images, with a series of dots. You would say, “You see this? What do you think this is going to be?” I’d look at you like you were crazy and you would make the dots into a picture of a river, or anything that had to do with water. I would smile and run away, but inside I thought, “wow, how did you do that?”
I didn’t realize that you were teaching me to use my imagination. You would sit for hours, trying to teach me to play the guitar, no matter how horrible it sounded, I could never play like you. You could pick up a tune with the blink of an eye and play it for me. I never knew that you were teaching me persistence. You valued the small things in life, like food, music and spending time with family. You didn’t judge people. You never looked at me differently when I made a bad decision. You never scolded me about what I should have done, or about my appearance.
You taught me about my culture, about how to be a better person and how to avoid letting small things bother me.
I remember when I was seven, and you were staying at the house, finding liver (your lunch) in the fridge and thinking that it was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen in my life. The fact is that if it didn’t have a label on it, I would have never known what it was. I didn’t need a label to know that you were my Grandpa. You showed me who you were. You were then, are now and will always be in my heart and I wish you were here so that I could tell you that. Happy Birthday!
NEVA SQUIRES-RODRIGUEZ 