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SWOH | Grandpa turned 91 in March. After about 4 days of the trying the staying at home stuff, he showed up at the shop and said he couldn’t do it. He had to get out and get something done. He’s been cutting down trees and cutting back brush along woods and fencerows for a few weeks now. He doesn’t go anywhere else right now besides the fields and home, and we try to keep our distance from him... but he said staying home was going to kill him and he had to get out. I’m pretty sure his intention is to go with a chainsaw in his hands when it’s his time. He might outlive us all. He still loads the backhoe bucket up with gravel every now and then and grabs a shovel and fills in holes in the driveway. There are a few things I won’t do here that I know he can still do and I let him do it, I don’t want to take that away from him.
We were always worried how we were going to get him to stop using the big equipment when he got older, but he did it on his own when he was in his late 70’s. He knew he was getting a little dangerous and he didn’t want to tear stuff up or get anybody hurt so one day he came in and said he was done with the equipment work, he was going full time manual labor. I’m thankful he did it on his terms.
We bought back his first tractor from a neighbor last year, little Farmall A that is in really good shape and runs great. Right after we got it back here, Grandpa came puttering across the driveway on it with his arm slung over the shifter and a huge smile on his face. It was pretty cool to see. It was like he never left it over the past 60 years.
If it were me, I’d frame that picture you posted. He looks like he’s where he belongs. | |
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90 year old Dad
