Memories of Grandpa Timothy

My aunt is putting together a collection of memories. He's alive, by the way. Not to confuse you with the title. Anyways, here what I put together, a happy happy part of my childhood:

I'll do my best to recall some of my best memories.

As a child:

"Grandparents are there to spoil their grandchildren" represents the majority of my my memories with Grandpa Timothy.
I took many many trips either by myself or with my brothers and sister from Seattle to Portland. "Good 'ol Knowles" was what we always said as we drove up to Knowles St. where Grandpa lived. I had my favorite place to sleep: his couch in his basement. The couch was old and well-used so that it was squishy and soft that you just sank right down into it. In this room, there were 3 tv's: one for Super Nintendo, one for Sega Genesis, and one for cable television. There were a few traditions that I will never forget during my trips to Portland. I remember the most the times when I was able to go by myself and do these things just the 2 of us.

-Go to the grocery store and buy a box of cereal of my choice. My parents only let me eat 1 bowl of cereal per day. This would often force me to poor cereal into the bowl, crush it with all my weight so that I could poor more cereal on top of it and get as much cereal as possible into the bowl. At Grandpa's, I could eat to my heart's content, which usually meant at least 2 meals a day. And I got to pick whatever cereal I wanted, no matter how sweet or unhealthy, which usually meant Fruity Pebbles or Captain Crunch Berries. Especially if I was with my brother Chris, we would go through an entire box of cereal at one sitting, and the milk would disappear just as fast. Having that kind of freedom to choose whatever I wanted was so fun.

-There was also unlimited soda in the giant fridge in the garage, including all my favorites: grape, orange, strawberry.

-Often on the same trip we would stop at a Toys 'R' Us and buy any game that I wanted. This was easily one of the things I was most excited to do. I could pick one of the newest games out there no matter how expensive. And I was able to play as many video games as I wanted at my own sleep schedule. Truly a boy's dream.

-We would go out to the same restaurant every time. It was an old diner, and I would get a breakfast like waffles or french toast every time. We would play Kino every time. And I would get to keep the money. He would pick my birthday for numbers. I never made more than $5, but that was a lot to me.

-We went to this local pizza place. It had arcade games and Grandpa would give me loads of quarters to use. This place eventually closed. It was a sad day.

-He would definitely joke with me every time we passed Dancing Bare, the strip joint with a giant sign with a bear. It would make me laugh every time. "You want to go to Dancing Bare this time?" He would always joke about girls with me since I could remember, ask me if I had any girls that I liked etc. When I grew up, he didn't understand why I would like any girls who weren't tall and blonde until he met Keiko, my wife. Then he finally understood.

-Sitting out in his hot tub. Having a hot tub in your house was exciting enough, but I was able to use it at my will. Good times.

There were many more fun things that we did, but these were the must-do's every trip.



These are memories as a teenager/adult:

-Getting to buy a video game every time we visited....just kidding. But I still loved to play his video games and eat cereal when I visited.

-When I had some musical or other music event I was in, grandpa always wanted to watch the whole thing. He would always pay attention and give such great compliments. There weren't many people I would rather show my music stuff to than grandpa.

-I remember having the worst injury of my life. It was a giant hematoma or collection of blood that dried up in my leg. I was in junior high and my mom had some conference to go to so she dropped me off. I needed way more pain control because I was sweating from pain 24/7. I just had my grandparents to rely on. Luckily they were there for me every second. I remember how much I appreciated it to this day.

-Scrabble tournaments: i don't think I have ever won a game to this day, even when I get to use the dictionary. Grandpa even teamed up with my Japanese wife and beat me. The other game we played alot when lots of family gathered was PIT. Grandpa wasn't quite as skilled at this game as you could always tell when he had the bear or bull cards.

-I love listening to Grandpa's stories from his mission or other stories from his youth. He has led such an interesting life. The things he could do as a missionary are also so different than what is allowed now: it's fascinating.

-Thanksgiving on Grandpa's ping pong table. The largest family meals I can recall.



Keiko's best memory:

Kara was working on Disney cruise and has some amazing discount. Grandpa decided he wanted to go but there weren't too many people who could go. Keiko was one of them. So Keiko and Grandpa went on a cruise, just the 2 of them :). They had a great time: going to all-you-can-eat buffets, seeing the Carribean, touring various islands, watching Disney shows, playing ping pong.

He also has helped Keiko alot with her English. Keiko stayed in Seattle to learn English. It was often only the 2 of them at home. Grandpa used his expertise to help Keiko with hard sounds like L and R. Gorilla gorilla gorilla, squirrel squirrel squirrel. I love him. :)

Things I like about grandpa:

-The love he shows for us grandkids, whether through
-watching our musical events,
-buying us video games and cereal
-or just joking around with us and treating us like his friends and grandkids.
-His amazing personal history
-His patience