Lunch With Grandpa

“Ali, if you're going to marry, marry for love not money or excitement. But if you marry for love, make sure he has a job,”

Just one example of the pearls of wisdom I get when visiting my grandpa. Another benefit is that he always takes me out to lunch and sometimes, will slip a twenty in my hand and casually tell me to go buy myself a cappuccino.

Lunch with Grandpa is always an adventure. Before he moved into the retirement home we would go to one of 3 places located in town. At 94 Grandpa still had his driver's license but preferred to take the main roads and as his passenger, I must say preferred this too. If Grandpa was in the mood for a salad we went to the local dinner. More often than not we would go to Charlie Brown's on Wednesdays for a chicken pot pie. And sometimes, if Grandpa was feeling extra special we would go to Napoli, which had stuffy service and terrible food but when you're a teen or in college, food or free food for that matter tastes like gold. No matter where we went one thing was certain, Grandpa would park in the spot farthest from the door regardless of whether or not the lot was crowded. “A little exercise never hurt anyone” he'd say.

When he moved into assisted living our lunches together only became more extravagant. Well, as extravagant as one can get in Jersey City. We did have an occasional meal at the retirement home. This is how I discovered the importance of texture in a meal. Everything was so soft it didn't matter if you had teeth you didn't need them. However, for the most part we ate out. Grandpa began developing tastes for things he had never eaten. I arrived one Saturday afternoon, and by afternoon I mean before noon because well Grandpa had been up since 6. I was greeted with the question, “How do you feel about oysters?” “I love them” I said. And so it was oysters, a glass of wine, Grandpa and me at a white table cloth restaurant overlooking the water in Jersey City at 11 am with nothing else in my stomach but the liquor from the night before and some coffee. No matter what we ordered for our entree one thing was certain, we ended our meal with a coffee. Him decaf and me regular.

Two years after he had moved into the atrium Grandpa decided to take up painting. Unlike most people who choose to paint vases, fruit bowls, or landscapes, Grandpa took inspiration from a more virtual source. Grandpa loves to paint Microsoft backgrounds. You don't realize how familiar you are with computer backgrounds until you're in my Grandpa's apartment and it hits you, I've seen all of these before. After he exhausted these, he moved on to interesting pictures he saw online or in email forwards.

I'm sure, my grandpa is the only person over the age of 70 who knows what a blog is and what's more will read one. He loves the internet, particularly, he loves sending those cheesy forwards that you hate to see in your inbox. Emails with subjects such as Amazing Photos or jokes with the subject FWD FWD: Ear Infection. If it were anyone else I'd be annoyed, but since it's from my Grandpa I feel obligated. I admit some are actually interesting. My favorites include a slideshow on the Mayan temples and another email of 3-D sidewalk chalk pictures. One year Grandpa printed out all of those jokes and cataloged them into a hole punch binder. The tabs read blonde, political, religious, and miscellaneous. He gave it as a gift to my two brothers. He typed the cover on the computer and printed himself. It read Jsokes. I'm not sure if he realized how funny and appropriate his typo really was.

After several lessons on the ins and out of Microsoft word Grandpa became adept with card making. Every year he makes me a birthday card using different clip art and word art. He prints on both sides and even has a logo on the back that reads "Guy Card". Each time, he adds a new inspirational saying. And always, he signs “Grandpa”. He uses quotes because he is not my actual biological grandfather, though you'd never know it by our time together.

The last time I visited him were at an italian food chain in Jersey City, the kind where you get free salad and breadsticks though you wish you didn't because the salad doesn't look as good as it does in pictures and doesn't taste as good as it looks in person. He told me, “Ali you're almost 25, you better start saving for your nest egg.”
“Grandpa, I think its going to be a while before I need a nest egg.”
“Yah but the future comes sooner than you think” he states. I sit silenced. He's 96 now and a little slower but he's still the quickest person I know.