Greatest Grand Great-Grand

This year the Littles and I had the great honor of spending Fathers Day with the greatest great, grand, great-grandad there is!
My granddaddy was recovering from a hip surgery in a care center, and so we visited him there.  The kids were very excited and nearly knocked him from his wheelchair when they ran and jump-hugged him.  They colored elaborate pictures for him in his room and hung them up to liven the place up a bit. 
He is now in a fairy and Hello Kitty paradise. You're welcome, Grandad!  They accompanied his (always awesome) piano concert with singing, dancing (jazz hands!), and plinking along in, uh, "harmony".  They showered him in hugs and kisses. 
And, as they are good helpers, they assisted him diligently with his physical therapy.

My Littles adore this man, Peanuts. It's impossible not to! He is the quintessential kind, gentlemanly grandfather. In all my life, I have never seen him lose his temper.  Or even get decently angry about anything.  He's pretty much just nice all the time.
My Grandad has been the most consistently positive male role model in all my life.  That's not something to take for granted. He has always shown me that men don't have to get mean when they are mad, that they don't have to leave when things get rough. That they can care about their families all the time. To this day he is the person in my life who will always believe the best of me, always believe in the best for me, and always cheer me on.
So I felt honored on behalf of myself and my Littles too, to be able to spend Father's Day with Grandaddy.  It made me think of all the ways he has been important to me, all the ways that fathers are important.  Even the ones who aren't, technically, your father at all.

Father's Day Dinner

With the gifts the kids made him

Now that I am back home from Texas, I've been watching my Littles with J and thinking again how important fathers are.  Even the ones who technically are fathers.  Like my Grandaddy did for me, I think that J- in little teeny-tiny ways that gather up and stick together like a snowball rolling down a hill- is helping our girls to have a lifetime of happiness in their far futures. When they grow up and find people to have families with.
Kind of like how I found J, who happens to be the kind of guy who has never, in all the years I've known him, lost his temper.  Who is pretty much just nice all the time.  Who cares about his family.  All the time.  Who makes me happy.