Happy 100th Birthday Grandpa!

Today (April, 7 2014), my grandpa Cottingham would have been 100 years old. Although he has been gone for several years now, I have so many memories of him. He lived with us for most of my young childhood years so  the memories I have are quite vivid.  I don't just have images filling my mind but I have specific smells that I attribute to him as too. The smell of Camel cigarettes and hot coffee are the two most vivid ones.  Vinegar is another...every time I uncap a bottle of vinegar for cooking I think of him. He used vinegar like a condiment..like most of us would use ketchup and mustard. I most specifically remember him pouring it on top of the  ham and beans my Mom would make.  I remember he always wore a wool sweater...usually navy in color and he had his wooden cane with him everywhere he went. Most times he used it for support while walking but other times he used it to poke at things he couldn't reach or swing it around at us while teasing my sisters and me. I remember him sitting for hours on our front porch swing just watching the cars pass by. Sometimes when he was in a good mood he would just swing and hum songs for what seemed like forever. He always made his daily trip up to the tavern to drink ....not alcohol but COFFEE. That man loved his coffee.  He enjoyed watching episodes of Gunsmoke and Bonanza while chewing on chocolate candy Whoppers.  I remember his Ritz cracker key chain that looked so real I wanted to eat it. His snow white hair was always cut in the buzz cut hairstyle. All of these thoughts of him has me wondering what he would have thought of my little boys -I am sure he would have jumped right in on their silliness and orneriness.  I know he is watching over us and I know I will see him again someday. 

To celebrate my Dad, and Lane and I all went on a road trip to Hettick, Il to visit his grave.  Dad brought along some cigarettes and a cup of coffee and I brought along some Whoppers and a birthday card to leave for him. Prior to our stop there was went on the hunt for my great-great grandma Susan Cottingham. For years we have been unable to find where she has been laid to rest and it has been driving my Dad and I bonkers!! We thought it may be possible that she was buried in the same cemetery as her Mother and Father so we went to Medesto, IL to look for the Blue Grass (Horton) Cemetery.  We weren't quite sure where it was and we needed a cup of hot coffee to bring to Grandpa so we stopped in The Front Porch Cafe to eat breakfast and figure out where we were going. No more than five or ten minutes after sitting our attention was drawn to a group of about 10 or 12 older women singing, "Happy Birthday" - it was so strange to have that happen. I ended up speaking with the group of ladies and explained to them that it would have been my grandpa's 100th birthday today too. They said they meet there every Monday for breakfast and they were celebrating their friend's 77th birthday but it wasn't until Thursday. I told them we were on the way to Blue Grass Cemetery and they told us exactly how to get there. I even found out that the lady who was celebrating her birthday actually knows a friend of ours. Crazy how small this world is sometimes! We ate a very very excellent breakfast (Lane ate a cheeseburger at 9am) and then went to the cemetery to find Susan- but had No LUCK! I feel blessed to have these days with not only my Dad but my little boy. It's days like today that make for great memories and fun stories to tell later. I hope my Grandpa enjoyed his birthday in heaven as much as we enjoyed celebrating it here.  

 The cafe we stopped in to eat and chat with the old ladies.

 Dad saying "cheese" for the camera.

 Was just thinking that we had three generations there today to remember Grandpa Cottingham.

 Lane really enjoyed looking at all of the different tombstones but found this one and really enjoyed it because it had a puppy on it.

 Oh and then he found a FROG-which is funny because Papa Ham (my Dad) always calls Lane, "froggy."

 Lane was checking it all out-even the smokes. He loved eating Whoppers too.

 Lane even sang "Happy Birthday Papa Jo" and said, "I love you Papa Jo"- without being coached to do so which was the neatest part.

 Oh and then this sweet little dog came to visit us although I think he was mostly there to visit Grandpa because he just laid right down on his grave like he belonged there or something. It was odd. And fun-Lane enjoyed this part the most!