Grandpa’s Retarded

Sadly too many children these days have no grandparents available to raise them as their parents are often too far away to run pick the little ones up from the grandparents every day. Sadly it takes two incomes just to survive.

Return to the daze of my youth.

Years ago, after my Daddy retired from a lifetime of factory jobs and driving tractor-trailers, my little nephew Walter who lived just up the street, couldn’t wait to get off the bus and run to Grandpa’s house every afternoon. Every day Daddy, watched as Walter jumped from the school bus and ran the block as quickly as he could run to stay and play with Grandpa until my brother and his wife got in from work.

One day as Walter was running down the street a woman who was new to the neighborhood shouted, “Little boy, why are you running?”

Walter shouted, “My Grandpa’s retarded. I have to hurry up and get there.”

Grandpa and Grandma were sitting on the porch listening to every word.

Unlike when I was growing up with only one parent working, it was Grandpa and Grandma who looked after the grandchildren while my brothers, their wives, and I worked to make ends meet. Thanks to our parents our children turned out fine.

Sadly too many children these days have no grandparents available to raise them as their parents are often too far away to run pick the little ones up from the grandparents every day. Sadly it takes two incomes just to survive.

Many who might read this are paying more for after school care than I make each month. The layoffs, economic crashes, outsourcing, shortages, and other things that destroy your lives are all the result of the actions and inactions of old gray haired white men leading me to believe that while Walter’s grandpa wasn’t retarded, a lot of the grandpas who control our lives are retarded.

Please continue reading Love Me Tender.