Can The Next Generation Still Write?

Can People Still Write? I often question if the next generation can write. Here are some words my daughter wrote about her Grandad, who passed away earlier this week. 

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On the 18th March 2020, at 11.25pm we sadly lost my mom's dad & our lovely Grandad, Roy. Better known to us kids & immediate family as Derder. This little nickname came from when I was a young child learning to talk and always wanting to be by his side which I fondly gave him and it has stuck with us ever since.

I didn't post anything yesterday as I took the day to let myself get my head around it & I didn't know what to say & wanted to do him the justice he deserves whether anyone reads this or not. Also in case, because of the current pandemic, he doesn't get the proper funeral he should have had.

Although it has been a long time coming having been through the ringer with a type of blood cancer these last few years & a lot of previous scares along the way, I feel strangely at peace with it as I know he's no longer suffering.

However, I'm still very sad & want to honour his memory well. He was a loyal, kind, quiet, gentle, incredibly clever man & a very talented painter. He could tell you the name of any bird just by sight, sometimes even sound. He knew something about anything you could ever possibly ask him & if he didn't, he made a point of finding out.

Growing up with my grandparents living on the next street meant I spent a lot of time with them. I remember afternoons sitting on his lap whilst he's trying to do his crossword in his favourite chair with a bowl of vanilla ice cream in my hand desperately asking him to smother it with the chocolate sauce that would set and go hard just so we could sit & watch it together whilst he snuck me a sip of his whiskey. I also loved to spend many a day out in the garden with him or in the greenhouse where he grew orchids and tomatoes.

He had a wicked sense of humour. He always had some dirty or inappropriate joke shoved up his sleeve or a piece of advice that shouldn't be encouraged, ready to divulge to us kids when he could sneak them past mom & dad. Usually sat around their dinner table when we'd gone for lunch/tea on our own. Or in Joe's case when he'd gone round there first for his tea straight after school, then come home and not mentioned it so he could have his second tea at home which used to make us all laugh.

We went on many a holiday together, he's recently loved retelling me the story of a caravan trip I took with him & Nan, where really early on in the evening I decided I wanted to go to bed. Which meant, they also had to go bed. So off we went, sorting the caravan out, making sofas into beds, getting into bed, all laying there trying to get to sleep knowing it's far too early. Eventually I say "I'm not tired anymore, can we get up again?", to which they then had to put the caravan back together again & drag my enthusiastic little butt to the main campsite area where there was a disco on to then dance the night away.

In recent years, he came to live with us after my Nan sadly had a stroke and he also needed the extra care with his cancer. I'm glad we got to share a lovely week in Wales together last year which I know he thoroughly enjoyed. I have also loved being able to introduce him to Joel & Joel's family. I've enjoyed watching him build his own relationship with Joel which basically consisted of them trying different beers together.

My biggest fear was that he would not make it to our wedding next year and that I wanted to throw an engagement party in the UK before we left so that he could be a part of it. I made a point of wearing a white dress (even if it's not my actual wedding dress) so that he could see me wearing my white. For a man who almost couldn't face coming along throughout the week before, he stuck the evening out until midnight which amazed us all, managed to scoff down a dessert and had the biggest smile on his face the whole time as well.

I know he was a proud of me and I truly hope he knew just how loved he was back. Every time I eat a slice of cake, I'll be thinking of you & your double dessert dinners!

I love you Derder 

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I would struggle to have written this and I knew him for longer and have all of these memories in my head. So, all credit to you Jess. Lovely words for a lovely man.

PS - It appears that some can still write, so hope for the future.