Catching up with some old friends Part One

I was recently taking some kind of assessment or quiz for a reason I can't recall, but one of the questions stuck with me and made me think a little more deeply about the answer.  The question was " If you could pick one or two people from the past who are now dead to sit down and have dinner with, who would they be?"  In the past I usually would answer with a famous historical figure or try to come up with an obscure choice, just to be a pain in the neck.  But this time it struck me that there are two people I'd love to sit down with and talk to, because now I'm old enough to know what to ask them.  I want to have dinner with my Grandfathers.

Both men have been gone for quite some time.  My Father's Father was a tough, lean, wiry guy who had spent his life at sea first as a fisherman, then a boatbuilder and skipper aboard different sailing yachts and racers.  He had grown up poor, one of ten children, all of whom were subject to beatings at the hands of his equally tough Father.  When I knew him, he was a loving Grandfather who enjoyed having me around. He would tell me stories and take me different places.  Most of the curse words I know I learned from him, but I also learned a lot about hard work and taking pride in whatever you were doing.

My Mother's father, in contrast, was a well respected lawyer, Judge, and banker.  He was one of the most prominent citizens of the town my mother grew up in.  He graduated from law school early, and was the first of his classmates to pass the bar.  At the age of 25, he was named a county judge.  he became the managing partner in one of the older law firms in town, and would also become the Chairman of the Board for the local bank.  He too was a loving grandfather.  I can still remember him leaning down to kiss me smelling of Listerine.  He liked to take me down to the beach near the summer cottage he and my Grandmother owned, and teach me to shoot a BB gun, or show me what he was using for fertilizer in his garden.  I looked up to him and deeply respected him.

Both of these men harbored secrets, however.  I believe that both men may not have lived completely happy lives because of these secrets.  I also think that there is a better than even chance that they both had aspects of ADHD.  In the next two posts, I'm going to talk about each man, and then "ask" them what the difference would have been in their lives if they had lived today.  I believe they were both far more complicated interesting people than I ever suspected as a child.