Last week, my sister, Lisa asked me when my favorite time of my life happened.

“Growing up in Lisbon, Connecticut,” I told her.  Spending time with my maternal grandparents.  Today would have been my grandfather’s 109th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa

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I owe so much of who I am to him:
–My sensitivity (Sometimes seen as a challenge.)

–My ability to forgive (also sometimes seen as a challenge.)

–My photography career. For it was my grandfather who introduced me to the art of photography by giving me my first camera for my tenth birthday.

–All the time I spent with a fishing pole in hands growing up.  It was my grandfather who taught me to fish as well.  And I spent every waking hour from morning to dusk at Blissville Pond literally JUST down the street from my Grandparents house on Graham Terrace.

There are so many more things my grandfather imparted on me, too many to list in this small space. Let me just say growing up in Lisbon Connecticut on Graham Terrace was something I will cherish all of my life.   I’ve returned to Graham Terrace several times since I grew up there in the 1970s and ya know what?

In this case the saying that you can’t go home again rings true.  Blissville Pond where I spent my youth fishing is chained off.  My grandparent’s house once pale lime green as it was the entirety of my youth is now yellow.  One thing that has remained however is the red maple tree in the front yard.

My maternal grandfather was the only male role model I knew growing up and he impacted my life in ways he never knew.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Hoffman.

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
—
Chris

Once you realize that life is eternal,
That our souls our eternal,
That we return to light and physical over and over;

We then lose all our distress
We then lose all our fear of dying.  For there truly is no end.