GRAMPS

{I did NOT take this picture. It was taken by the fabulous FIFE PHOTOGRAPHY. I borrowed it from my cousin's wedding album HERE.}

Grandpa Brown turned 80 this week. As a surprise, it was arranged for him to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. How cool is that?

The next night, was a hopping shindig with cake. And cookies. And like, six hundred cousins.

Okay, I exaggerate. Not quite that many.

But there were tributes rendered, poetry read, memories shared, and tears shed. And then we all laughed and talked the night away.




Gramps has had a darn, interesting life. He took Grandma Jennie, my mom, and her five brothers on quite the lifelong adventure. He worked for American embassies around the world, pioneering the LDS church in remote areas as he went.
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As a result, my mom's growing up years were spent in places like:

• Baghdad, Iraq
• Tehran, Iran
• Bogotá, Columbia
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Brasilia, Brazil

I think that's cool.



We lived with him after Grandma died, from the time I was 12 until I was 16 (...my snottiest of years, now that I think about it...it's a wonder he still likes me) Here are a few things I remember from that time:

*Grandpa hates cats. Once, when a stray kept hanging around, he grabbed it by the scruff of the neck, tossed it in the trunk, and released it in the middle of the Mexican desert. No joke.


*We had all just moved into a new house. Around the dinner table, Grandpa told us about his first experience with his new shower. Not realizing there was a step down, he stumbled in and landed on the tile floor. After getting back on his feet, he went to turn the water on only to have the unexpected power of the water pressure send him right back down to the bottom.
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I probably shouldn't laugh so hard at this memory. But I do.


*Grandpa is staunchly against wasted food. So, most days, I came home from school to a pot on the stove of what we eventually dubbed: "goulash". It was a mixture of all the leftovers he could find in the kitchen, heated together, with raisins and salsa thrown in for good measure.


I love that guy.