Ice-Cream Cake and Laughter....Celebrating Paw

Believe it or not, my grandpa would have turned 99 years old today, November 7! He died when he was 74, on a sad day in May 1993. Despite the fact that he left this world 25 years ago, he is still very much alive in my heart and daily conversations.

This fact became very evident to me last night. I was in the process of making dinner when my youngest daughter, who never had the privilege of meeting him, burst in the door with an ice-cream cake to celebrate his birthday. Ice-cream cake was his favorite cake. I looked at her puzzled as she announced, “I bought an ice-cream cake for Paw’s birthday”. I stuttered around and said, “Uh… his birthday is tomorrow”. “I know,” she replied, “but we’re all here tonight for dinner”!

I was surprised and felt so happy inside as she and my older daughter, and son-in-law cut into the cake and began recounting countless stories of a man they never knew. My aunt and I sat there laughing and giggling as this younger generation reminded us of the nick-names he had for us, the crazy shenanigans’ he pulled, and the fun memories about him that we’ve imparted to them.

And you know what? He would have LOVED it! They re-told events of his life, things he had done and didn’t leave out a detail. It was almost as if they had actually been there in person. I feel like there is no greater honor we could give to my grandpa, than to have his great-grandchildren that never knew him, to “know” him. Not only to “know” him, but to have one actually make a stop after work, to buy a birthday cake, to celebrate a man she never met, that has been dead for 25 years.

Today, one of my third-graders came bounding in and told me, “Mrs. Webb, today is my birthday”! I told him that he shares a birthday with a great man, my late grandpa. “How old would he be if he was alive,” he asked. “99,” I told him. And then I thought, “He is alive”. He’s alive in all those stories and memories. He is alive in the fact that my kids remind me about him, and talk about him like they knew him personally.

Eating the cake and sharing all those stories they have learned from my memories was a great feeling. I hope that I can live my life in a way that 25 years after I am long gone, a generation of kids, that I never got to meet are celebrating my life with the same laughter and joy. And I hope they are eating my favorite cake, Chocolate with Chocolate Icing!