real men of influence

larry-you were taken too soon, but it was because of what you did in life that took you to the after-life. i can remember taking weeks and weekends with you and your wife during the summer. you would take me into your shop and teach me to use your power tools to create simple wooden toy guns, which i thought were the greatest things in the world. you were an amazing wood worker. you could do anything with wood. sometimes, you'd take me fishing with your friends, and we'd be gone all day and all day you'd treat me like i was a man, when i was only 10. you would take me to the bar with you and i would drink all the pepsi i could fit in my body. it was hard to watch you go at the end, way to hard for to long. you shared your heart with me and i thank you.

scotty-you were a hard man, but a man that would do anything for your family. you didnt show a whole lot of emotion, other than grumpiness. you taugh me what it looks like to work, really work. you would work with purpose and as if a piece of you was going into whatever you were doing. my dad would tell me stories about how hard you worked. one week, one summer, i stayed with you and your wife while you were at your florida home. you took me under your wing and showed me a side of you i had never seen. you let me into your world, into your heart, and you let me fly your model airplanes. we went to an airshow and you taugh me all about planes. you took the time to share you with me during that week. everytime i smell a pipe i think of you. when you died, they told me you said you were proud of me for going to college and trying to do something big. you have no idea what that ment to me.

my grandfathers were great men, in each their own way. i am sad that i didnt realyze this until this late in life. i wish i could spend time with them now. i know there is so much i could learn from them that i never will. its funny, some days i can literally feel their blood...in my blood...in my vains...in my body, and its like they are there with me. i miss them. i love them.