i remember.

Tonight I accompanied my little niece London to the infamous Chuck-E-Cheese. This place has been delighting kids (and twenty-four year olds--ahem) for decades. As I watched the little children run crazily from one game to the next I thought about my childhood birthday parties which were spent in this place which has a rat for it's mascot. He is a rat--right? Why couldn't he have been something cute like a bunny? Besides the point. These days Chuck-E covers Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus songs instead of the "YMCA" he and his buddies used to rock out in my day. I began to think about my childhood. I began to think about my Grandpa.

 My grandpa J.D. Ford passed away a few days ago at eighty years young. He was the toughest man I knew. He was an entrepreneur and businessman.  He always smelt like asphalt. He forever wanted me to sing country music. (Sorry Pops--never gonna happen.) He came to every church musical I was ever in. He gave me $100 every year on my birthday with a card that read: "I hope this fits." He ended every phone conversation with this: "Tell everybody you had a chance to see me." Thankful for the man that he was and awful blessed to have been his little Danielle. I remember.