She loves telling stories and I always love hearing about her and Pap Pap and how their love story started. She told me how they "went together" which is what they called dating back then, and what her and my Pap Pap did together. How they actually spent quality time together by taking long walks at night, going to the park, having picnics, going to get ice cream, you know the simple things. Then they were separated a year when my Pap Pap moved to Columbus and my Nanny was still in Pennsylvania. So they wrote letters every day to each other (which she kept them all and still reads them today). She told me of their hardships as a young married couple and all of the things they had to overcome. My Pap Pap could not afford college so he worked with his dad at Wise Potato chips. When that business was sold he went on to deliver milk to people's door steps for five years and hating it. He eventually joined a friend in the mortgage business, and that eventually took off. They skimped by for years, but by hard work and dedication, they became successful.
We also talked about how things have changed so much generation to generation. When you think about it, our grandparents have seen soooo many changes over the last 80 years or so. Now, I love the world we live in, I mean, for the most part, but sometimes it would be nice to go back to the days our grandparents lived in. Life was simple. They had a hard work ethic, instead of wanting instant success or hand outs, or wanting little magic pills that make you loose 50 pounds even though you can still eat whatever you want and not work out (oh yea, they don't work). No, that's not how to do it. That is not the way to go about life. I don't want to live that way either, thinking and expecting things to magically happen without all the sweat, blood, and tears. Life is hard and challenging, and if you want to be more in life and become successful, then think like our Grandparents did and do it the old-fashioned way. Work hard, and keep on working hard, then harder, and then even harder. As soon as you taste success, don't stop. Consistency is key, keep on going.
"Nothing fails like success. People get to a certain level of success and get too comfortable. We stop doing what we did to get us there. Don't Stop." -Darren Hardy.
I am not just talking about money, but any aspect in life. Relationships, health, spirituality, work, you name it. Put into something or someone what you want to get out of it. Don't expect an INSTANT change or improvement. It wont happen. It's not meant to work that way. Keep on keeping on by working hard consistently over time, you will slowly see a change, even if no one else does. Slow and steady wins the race. Trust me, it has taken me awhile to realize that, and I am still working on it. I have been guilty of wanting the instant change or goal to be met. When it didn't happen as soon as I thought it should have I gave up. Well, I hope this year I can get back to basics like my Grandparents did.
Having 9 Grandchildren it was hard to balance out everyone's sporting events, as all nine of us were in multiple sports. However, I remember him at just about every one of my sporting events. He was our number one fan.
RIP to my Pap Pap and Grandma (my mom's mom); and RIP to all of your amazing Grandparents.
Lets make our Grandparents proud!!
