Papaw the prankster

I have mentioned my Grammy on the blog and Facebook site several times.  I adore Grammy and when I grow up I want to have the grace and poise she has.  I mean, I have friends constantly telling me they want to "adopt" my Grammy for their own, so she's pretty awesome.   On the flip side of that coin though, is Papaw.  He's a great man!

Here's a small back story about my grandparents just so you understand this post a bit.  You see, my "Papaw" is actually Grammy's second husband.  They got married when I was around 3 or 4 years old.  He also happens to be 20 years younger than Grammy.  It's okay to go back and read that line again.  When I was 3, Grammy was 41 which made Papaw 21 when he married into my family.  Oh yes, Grammy was a cougar before cougars were cool folks!  So, when I went to live with them Papaw was still kind of young.  I went through a "wild child" phase after high school and Papaw had no problems teaching me lessons and pulling pranks.

Just to let you know some of the pranks I endured, I thought I'd make a list.  Papaw has a very dry sense of humor, so the last thing I ever expected were these things to happen.  All of these pranks happened when I was between the ages of 18-21 and in college.  Know that I used to "live it up" on the weekends.

• After a night out I came home slightly inebriated and couldn't open the front door.  My key worked, but the door knob didn't.  He had coated it with baby oil.


• He *may or may not* have covered my toilet with saran wrap while I was in class. (I had my room and my own bathroom growing up)


• A bucket of confetti once fell off of my door for my birthday.  Thankfully the dog thwarted this prank, but I laughed hysterically.


• He would always hide things.  Not in mean way, but he would move stuff I needed and it made me crazy.  Like moving my laundry into the garage or backpack from the dining room into the office.  Nothing was ever truly hidden, just moved to make me wonder.


• He once put crushed potato chips under my sheets so when I laid down it scared me. (He did put them in a huge Ziploc.  So no mess!)

Those are just a few of the pranks he pulled.  There are more.  I never thought any of the pranks were in mean spirit and laughed all the time as a young adult.  I think Papaw knew how stressed I would get and always wanted to lighten the mood, so he would pull a prank to ease my stress.  It always worked!

On a different note though, Papaw was probably the closest thing to a true father figure I had.  Oh, I have a Dad, but my personal story is quite complicated.  My parents were, well, it's complicated to explain.  Just know that when I need fatherly advice I've always gone to Papaw.  When I was younger he was the one who was tossing me in the air, teaching me to ride a bike, how to spit, and told me it was okay to be a tom-boy as long I understood what being a girl meant too.  Papaw is the one who stepped in right before our wedding and took care of some business with my Dad.  Papaw came to the hospital each time I had a kid and reminded me of how I got in that position. haha.  He comes to all the kids birthday parties and smiles through them all.  He's funny and can always make the kids laugh.  He a great Papaw!

I don't usually write about Papaw because he's often the overlooked grandparent of mine.  He's just always there ready to give advice or pull another prank.  That's Papaw, in a nut shell.