 As the first born grandson on my father's side of the family, I was named after my grandfather. We only had four years together, therefore the only memories I have of him are a few pictures, and a couple of recollections of us together. The first is a memory of him taking me for a walk in front of his house. He met his neighbor outside with his grandson and a picture of us was taken. The two men knelt behind us smiling as two grandsons with their grandfathers were captured on film. The other memory was visiting him when he was in the hospital. Even though he was weak and in pain with pancreatic cancer, he still found the strength to play with me awhile as I sat with him in his bed. I remember his kissing and hugging me when it came time for us to leave that night. At four years of age, I did not know that this would be our last time together. I remember how the house seemed empty. Grandpa wasn't sitting in his favorite chair, nor did we sit on the front stoop anymore. I had many years with my other grandfather. My mother was not the first to give him a grandson. Having seven sons and three daughters he had many grandchildren. Everyone visited him on Sunday's and holidays, but with my attending the school across the street from his house, I think I saw him the most. Grandpa did many things with me. He took me for rides in his Dodge. We went shopping at the supermarket, and also to the produce market. He taught me how to get the vendor to plug a watermelon for us to taste. After he got the vendor to sell him a 75 cent watermelon for 50 cents, we'd stop at a soda machine and he would buy us a 5 cent bottle of cold Pepsi. Sometimes I would be playing baseball with my cousin Mike and Grampa would drive up to the field in his big Dodge. Tooting his horn he'd wave at us to come to the car. It was time for one of our many long rides in the country. He loved taking us on these rides into the woods. Stopping numerous times, he would take us into the woods and show us how to pick mushrooms and dandelions. The furthest point of the drive would be at Tice's Farm, just south of the New York state line. Walking into the market, he would hand us each a nickle. Mike and I would run to the huge water cooler and purchase a paper cup. The sign over the cooler read, "All the apple cider you can drink - 5 cents." During the drive back home, Gramps would offer to stop at a soda machine for a Pepsi. We would just sit there holding our bellys as we shook our heads no. It was during trips like these that we started calling him Gramps. I remember a crabbing trip we made to Bayonne, New Jersey. Using one of his crabbing baskets, I sat and watched him as he used a single line and net. I could see the look of concentration on his face as he gently pulled in his line. Slowly I could see the crab hanging onto the line and bait as it neared the surface, and the pole net Gramps was holding. He caught more crabs with his line than we did using baskets. Once back at the dock, we didn't start loading the car until we sat and bought us a cold Pepsi. Gramps left us in 1965. His health deteriorated, and after a couple of hospital stays he passed away, two years after Grandma passed in 1963. To this day, his surviving family says he died of a broken heart. Seeing the family grieve at the funeral home, I had to take a break and walked to the corner store. Reaching into my pocket, I dropped a dime into the soda machine and reached down for the bottle of cold Pepsi. I have two grandsons today. I also have gained two granddaughters from my second marriage. We don't get to see much of each other, since we live about 2,500 miles apart. They called me Grandpa when they visited last year. Unfortunately, I found no Pepsi machines when we took them to the Grand Canyon. I talk to my oldest grandson on the computer. He would sign on sometimes when I'm online, and suddenly an instant message would pop up on my screen from him saying, "Hi Grandpa." This continued for the past few months until a couple days ago. A message popped up from him. Stopping what I was doing I read his message. It read, "Hi Gramps!" 
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