I love my grandpa, and I am blessed that I have him in my life in such an active way.
*insert photo montage of me as a kid learning how to make soap bubbles with him, him getting so aggravated with my math skills that he had to leave the room, a couple rocky years where I stole my grandma’s ashes from the house because his new wife was living there and I didn’t think grandma should have to share a roof with her, reconciliation, proud graduation pictures, repeat jerky making adventures, gardening, canning together, eating, drinking, laughing, etc. here*
He keeps ninja-ing me with free breakfast. Most days this is remarkably pleasant. I have an amazing relationship with him now. I love that my job gives me the flexibility to go and spend quality time over coffee and fried food. Yes. Fried food. They don’t serve anything that isn’t friend and covered in sugar. My diet is so screwed, but my grandpa is more important, which is why when this happened yesterday I went with it.:
Me: “Hmm it is 8:45, surely I can eat something.” Because I starve myself until the breakfast window is closed. “I’ll have some toast.” I freaking LOVE whole grain toast. It is a problem.
Two minutes elapse.
Grandpa walks in. “Well, I’m ready for breakfast.”
Me:“Dang grandpa! I just ate toast!”
Grandpa: “Well, it’s just toast. It would wear off soon anyway.” Gotta love his logic.
So, after replacing my toast with more toast, and eggs, and ham we were enjoying our third (or fifth) cup of coffee and discussing what makes the world go around when grandpa said something to the effect of “Your learning is the only thing that can’t be taken away.”
It struck me. It sounded a chord. Somewhere deep within my soul it resonated. Heaven opened up and angels sang. Or maybe the room getting shimmery was just the caffeine coursing through my system like a magnificent waterfall.
He was right. We had had similar conversations before, but they hadn’t stuck enough for me to wake up at four am dreaming about instilling such simple words of wisdom in the minds of the youth. (Yes. In my dreams I have the kind of awesome following that Allie from Hyperbole and a Half, or Jenny from TheBlogess have. I make a f***ing difference damnit. My words inspire people to live better lives! [In related news I read a bunch of blogs yesterday, and reading blogs has the same affect on me that watching movies does. I’m going to shield bash someone’s face with my awesome humor and wit! Take that creepy Nazi guy that represents the difficulties many people have with understanding abstract ideas. I will beat you down and make things pertinent by God!])
Our minds, our experiences, our learning; those are the only things that we can take with us. Money, cars, all other objects can be taken away so quickly, but we as a culture keep building ourselves up with them rather than focusing on ourselves. And it is freaking tragic. Our skills, our personal knowledge, are the single most valuable thing that any one of us possesses. It is our contribution to the world. It is what gives us value when all of the other pretenses are stripped away, so why do we feed it so little? Why do we resent the act of learning? Why is it dirty? Every one of us has so much to offer the world with our gems of insight, so why do we smother their light with pillows of materialism?
I love a roof over my head and the food on the table too; don’t get me wrong. I’m am not a monk by any means.
Although, I have made a pact with myself to turn the tv on less, and to books, painting, friends, or Rosetta Stone more. I can say that since then I have amazed myself with the amount of things I accomplish in the time I would spend sucked in to Criminal Minds or NCIS reruns, and I am a lot less paranoid about a serial killer breaking into my house and abducting me in my sleep. I’m going to call that a win-win situation. (Seriously. I live in the middle of nowhere with three cats. When I’m not paranoid that Sasquatch is going to kill me on my parent’s driveway I’m paranoid that someone will break in. I have issues. And a 9mm. And a sword. Read as: Don’t break in to my house. I’m a little unstable, and I don’t respond well to surprises.)
Just a hundred years ago most people didn’t have electric lights, they didn’t have a steady supply of food from a store, they didn’t have cars, but they had their minds and they had each other. Don’t lose sight of the things that have given value to our ancestors from day one. Don’t lose sight of your own value while oohing and ahhing at the stuff that others have amassed. Don’t lose sight of your mind. All your things can be taken away, you can be imprisoned, but your awareness is the one thing that is yours to the end. Love it. Love yourself (even your irrational Sasquatch fears. They give you character, and everyone loves character.)
Well, it is after nine now. I think I’m going to go risk eating toast.
<3
