Yet Another Jay and Deb Production.
We cherish every moment we get to spend with Papa, we know that he won’t be around forever and are especially thankful for the times he gets to spend with the Little Princess – she’s getting to the age that she just might remember her Papa after its his time to ‘cross over’. His age has really started to show over the last year – especially since his girlfriend of 30+ years (Mrs. C, aka ‘Nana’) has recently been afflicted with Alzheimer’s and Dementia – she is 92. He spends much of his free time making sure she is being taken care of, and to make sure that she has a ‘constant’ in her schedule daily. She has her good days and her bad days – she remembers our cat and the Little Princess with affection, she just doesn’t remember ‘who’ they ‘belong’ to, bless her heart! Nana and Papa have been inseparable for years – when they were able, they traveled annually for over 20 years to her childhood country of Ireland and bringing back the best memories and photographs, entertaining us with wonderful stories. Because he makes sure they have meals together, and their ritual 9:00 pm phone call each night, she remembers him, in spite of her advancing condition, and is very thankful to have him as a constant in her life.
Papa loves to drive (and does it well in spite of his age! LOL!) so he really looks forward to being able to come visit us on the weekends when he is able – he used to come up once a week, even mowed our grass in the summertime because it made him ‘feel young’, but as his health has slowly started to fade, so have his trips – so we thoroughly enjoy them when we can. We visit him as much as we can in his retirement home, but he prefers coming here because it gets him away from, as he says, ‘the old people’. LOL! Here, for your enjoyment are some pictures of Pool Shark Papa playing pool with the Little Princess:
Ultimately Papa ‘let’ the Little Princess win – she was so proud of her accomplishment, and he sure made her day! 😉
Afterwards, as we were enjoying coffee and ‘Papa Cookies’, she donned one of her dress-up outfits from the dress-up trunk Santa left for her – Papa got quite the kick out of her pretending to be a Ballerina Princess…
She noticed me taking pictures, and had to take a bow:
And for those of you following her ‘face-plant’ incident, as of Saturday this is how her eye looked:
By yesterday you couldn’t even tell she had had a black eye over her Christmas break – she was happy that she didn’t have to go to school sporting a shiner! The only thing left was the healing cut on her eyebrow, but it was effectively hidden by her hair…heh, heh! We did run into her Kindergarten teacher at Target last Wednesday – so her teacher got to see her shiner, much to the Little Princess’s chagrin! 😉
Cool pictures and the eye looks so much better Glad to see it going away 🙂 sYour father in law sounds wonderfuls 🙂
Thanks for coming by my blog and commenting 🙂
My neice just got the worst black eye ever…I’m going to have to go back in time and find your post on the incident to see what happened.s
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This is great post!s What a wonderful “Papa”!s I remember my Grandpas being like that!s They are both gone now, so it was fun to reminisce with you here today!
Aww…my FIL is ‘Papa’ too.s Good guy, too.s Her eye’s looking better, the yellow is better than the blue at least!s Glad she didn’t go in to school with the shiner!s Hugs!!!
LOL! Thank you, Megan! 😀 s Thanks so much for stopping by!
Thank you very much, Firefly!s I’m glad her ‘shiner’ didn’t slow her down any…or, wait, maybe I wish it had! (grin!)s My FIL is a very nice man – I’m so glad he gets to be a part of Princess Nagger’s life… 😉
OH, I hope your niece is OK!s In case you had trouble finding it, the first post was:s Holy Crap and the follow up was:s Black-Eyed Pea (nut). 😉 ss Thanks so much for stopping by!s Keep me posted on your poor niece!s Let her know that my Little Princess wishes her a speedy recovery from her shiner, too! 😉
Thank you very much, Katie!s I have fond memories of my grandparents, too – it’s so nice to get to experience ‘grandparent’ moments with my daughter, and particularly since my FIL is the same age my late grandfather would have been – it’s cool to get to hear more stories from the wa the world was during his childhood and such…I’m paying a lot closer attention (now that I’m an adult), so I can relay those stories to my Little Princess when she gets older.s Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂
Thanks so much, Julie!s She’s very pleased that her shiner was gone before going back to school – she was so worried about it! 🙂 s Thanks so much for stopping by! 😀
Hi Stacy! We have a PaPa too…and he is “spirited” as well…just te kind I hope to be. Your daughter is gorgeous, but you must know that…we have a “shiner” pic of ours too…I’ll have to throw that one up soon to give CPS some more evidence… 😉 This was such a great post…Thanks SO much for being a part of this Inaugural Tuesday’s Tribute!!
Jay
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How wonderful that Little Princess has a special relationship with her Papa!s My daughter is lucky enough to have 2 great grandparents, 88 & 93 yrs old to play with and dote on her.s I'm especially happy that she has this special bond with them, since my own father died when I was in my mid 20s and she will never know him in this world.
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Love your pictures!
I love the pool table.s Pool is my all time favorite game.s Looks so fun.s You’re very lucky that you have such a great papa.s My little one also calls her grandpa papa.s Thanks so much for your sweet comments on my blog.s It’s truly appreciated.s It’s been a little tramatic but I’m trying to stay positive about things.s Thanks for sharing and stopping by.
Aw, my FIL is ‘Papa’ too – at least according to him.s WE pronounce it ‘PopPop’, after the TV show Arrested Development 😉
Cute pics!
This is a sweet post about Papa.s Looks like the princess’ eye is healing nicely.
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I added you to a tag on my blog, if you’re interested.
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Davida
What an awesome tribute!s You are lucky to have Papa…and he is lucky to have you!s I love the pics of him playing pool!
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Oh and her eye looks SO much better!s Yay!
I got all teary! Reminds me so much of my “Black Grandpa”! You are very blessed to have such a wonderful FIL! Blessed.
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And that shiner! LOL I had one of those last month! No fun!!
I love the pictures!s Katie, too, has a Papa–we love him dearly, and he, too, is getting up in years…s Isn’t it amazing the influence and impact Papas can have on their grandchildren.s I’m so scared when we are away that something will happen… He and Grandma are such a blessing in her life!s Thanks for sharing your beautiful family!s
Thanks so much, Jay!s I love that you referred to your ‘shiner’ pic as more evidence for CPS – my hubby kept saying we were going to go to jail if our daughter showed up for Kindergarten with a black eye – so he was just as relieved as she was it faded just in time! LOL!!s I’m honored to be a participant in the Inaugural Teusday’s Tribute!s It’s been fun reading all the other tributes, too! 😀 s Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂
Oh, Steph, I’m sorry about your dad!s I think it’s great your daughter has her 2 great grandparents to spend quality time with, I wish my grandparents were still alive, I know they would truly enjoy my Little Princess! 🙂 s I’m sure the magic your grandparents bring to your daughter is extra special, and your father is looking down and smiling! 🙂 s Thanks so much for stopping by! 😀
Pool is certainly one of my all time favorite games, too – I’m glad my Little Princess enjoys it, too! 😉 s You’re very welcome – I hope things work out exactly as you want/need them to! (HUGZ!)s Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂
Thanks Elizabeth – She definitely seems to really look forward to Papa’s visits and just loves having him here!s I feel bad that we’re so far away from my parents so they don’t get to have that quality time with her while she’s young, but they’re still young and healthy, so they get to see her when we go back to visit – though I’m sure they don’t think it’s enough, or often enough, but they’ll have their exclusive moments eventually, too! 😉
LOL!s I thought about having her call him PopPop, but she insisted on PaPa…heh, heh!s Thanks so much for stopping by! 😀
Thank you so much Davida!s I’ll have to post a new picture of her eye tomorrow – you can’t even tell that she had a shiner, except the tiniest hint of light purple at the very outside corner of her eye…and the small scab on her eyebrow, but that gets covered up by her bangs…heh, heh!
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So you tagged me, did you?s My curiosity is up – and you know what they say ‘Curiosity Killed the Cat…BUT Satisfaction Brought Him Back!’ 😉 s I’ll stop on by and take care of that tag in the morning!s Thanks!s And Thanks so much for stopping by! 😀
Thanks, Jenni!s I agree – we are lucky to have Papa…and yes, absolutely he’s lucky to have us! LOL!! 😉
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Her eye does look so much better, doesn’t it?s She was so happy that it wasn’t going to be so glaringly obvious when she went back to school…heh, heh! 😉
It’s wonderful that you have such a caring Papa and a very fitting tribute to him.s Thanks for stopping by.
Awww, thanks Aubrey!s Yes, I do feel very blessed indeed!s Oh no!s You had a shiner last month?s Poor thing!s Thanks so much for stopping by! 😀
Thank you so much, Jennie!s Yes, I figured I’d better take lots of pictures so she can have some wonderful images to go with her memories… 🙂 s Thanks so much for stopping by! 😀
Thank you so much, Nicole!s It is amazing the influence and impact Papas can have on their grandchildren – he dotes on the Princess and she dotes on him…and considering he’s not an old softy, it sure is cool to see him turn into one around her! LOL!!
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Grandparents are absolutely a blessing… Thank you so much for stopping by! 😀
LOL!s Thanks, Casey!s I tried to convince my daughter about it making her ‘look tough’ – she didn’t want to have anything to do with being ‘tough’.s *DONT_KNOW* LOL!s Not sure why, though, ‘cuz she’s generally a tough cookie… 😉
A special THANK YOU to everyone who posted comments to this post – hopefully you got to see my responses to all of them before they were whisked away into the Technology Black Hole…and hopefully I’ll be able to retrieve them at some point!