My Grandfather was the kind of man people admire. He was one of my heroes. Even his oldest daughter reminisces about how he knew everyone and everyone knew him. But in the short time I knew him, I didn't know many people that HE admired. But this little tale is about one of the few. Ted.
Ted is a pilot, like my grandfather was, and he owns a motorized glider that he takes out from time to time. He's also madly in love with his wife, and I think it is for this reason more than anything else that my Grampa thought so highly of Ted.
Ted and his wife, I don't know her name, just that he calls her "Corky", have been married a long time. And with all couples who are madly in love and have spent so much time together, they have their little quirks, their routines, their traditions. Ted and Corky's tradition is coffee. They buy raw coffee beans, and each morning they'll peel and roast them in a giant cast-iron skillet, and grind them up by hand before brewing their morning cup. Needless to say, they do their coffee right.
Now, Corky has had Multiple Sclerosis for forty years of their marriage. She is now confined to a wheel chair and has many more health problems, but still they go through this ritual each day. Recently, Corky had to have surgery on her throat, which prevented her from being able to eat or swallow for a couple of weeks, her source of sustenance needing to come from a tube to her stomach. You can imagine this putting a damper on their daily coffee activity, but for crafty old Ted, this didn't stop him.
While Corky would be unable to taste their magnificent brew, Ted decided to engage her other senses of sight, smell and feel. He brought a selection of beans with him to the hospital, and by her bed, he was able to brew their daily coffee, though not quite as traditionally as normal. She was able to smell the beans, picked which ones she wanted, and after the coffee was made, Ted would put 20 cc's of it into a syringe and deliver that to her feeding tube. She would have her sip, then he would take a sip, and repeat.
Every so often, there are things that happen in our lives that, as petty as they seem when we look back on them, can really upset our ebb and flow at the time. We'll get flustered, frustrated, downright angry, and life stops being what it should be. Even being down here in the warm and welcoming tropics, I've had moments of the day where the stupidest little thing pisses me off, and then EVERYTHING goes wrong. But the first time this happened to me on this trip, my aunt told me this story, and I realized just how infinitesimal my plight was and how comical my frustration was.
Life can be a very harsh and unfair place where very bad things happen to people who don't deserve it. That's why it's important to make the best of every blessing we get, and toss out the rest. Emotions like anger, resentment, fear, and apathy are the only kinds of garbage that I don't feel bad throwing away.
When I get up every morning, I'm going to think of Ted as I sip on my morning coffee, and know that I'm going to have a good day.
Cheers.
Ted is a pilot, like my grandfather was, and he owns a motorized glider that he takes out from time to time. He's also madly in love with his wife, and I think it is for this reason more than anything else that my Grampa thought so highly of Ted.
Ted and his wife, I don't know her name, just that he calls her "Corky", have been married a long time. And with all couples who are madly in love and have spent so much time together, they have their little quirks, their routines, their traditions. Ted and Corky's tradition is coffee. They buy raw coffee beans, and each morning they'll peel and roast them in a giant cast-iron skillet, and grind them up by hand before brewing their morning cup. Needless to say, they do their coffee right.
Now, Corky has had Multiple Sclerosis for forty years of their marriage. She is now confined to a wheel chair and has many more health problems, but still they go through this ritual each day. Recently, Corky had to have surgery on her throat, which prevented her from being able to eat or swallow for a couple of weeks, her source of sustenance needing to come from a tube to her stomach. You can imagine this putting a damper on their daily coffee activity, but for crafty old Ted, this didn't stop him.
While Corky would be unable to taste their magnificent brew, Ted decided to engage her other senses of sight, smell and feel. He brought a selection of beans with him to the hospital, and by her bed, he was able to brew their daily coffee, though not quite as traditionally as normal. She was able to smell the beans, picked which ones she wanted, and after the coffee was made, Ted would put 20 cc's of it into a syringe and deliver that to her feeding tube. She would have her sip, then he would take a sip, and repeat.
Every so often, there are things that happen in our lives that, as petty as they seem when we look back on them, can really upset our ebb and flow at the time. We'll get flustered, frustrated, downright angry, and life stops being what it should be. Even being down here in the warm and welcoming tropics, I've had moments of the day where the stupidest little thing pisses me off, and then EVERYTHING goes wrong. But the first time this happened to me on this trip, my aunt told me this story, and I realized just how infinitesimal my plight was and how comical my frustration was.
Life can be a very harsh and unfair place where very bad things happen to people who don't deserve it. That's why it's important to make the best of every blessing we get, and toss out the rest. Emotions like anger, resentment, fear, and apathy are the only kinds of garbage that I don't feel bad throwing away.
When I get up every morning, I'm going to think of Ted as I sip on my morning coffee, and know that I'm going to have a good day.
Cheers.
This by far is my favorite and definitely got the water works going. Thank you for sharing!!
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