Unintended Lessons

“Forget your lust, for the rich man’s gold, all you need is in your soul, you can do this if you try, all I want for you my son, is to be satisfied.” These lyrics probably sound familiar from either hearing Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd or you have met my Grandpa Albert, in which makes these lyrics come to life or simply is just a prime example. If you have the chance to meet my amazing Grandpa here’s some of the first characteristics you might notice. He is calm, caring, open minded, never is mad, and a man who lives for Jesus. My favorite thing about my grandpa, is his appreciation for the little things in life. Growing up with grandpa we always played the best games with our imagination or games in the car. My favorite game was hide the pencil. I became frustrated because he always hid them so well, I never could catch on. Another game is, you pick a color and however many cars of this color you see on the way home, you tally up and the one with most points wins. Hanging around my grandpa you often hear him say appreciate the little things in life.

 My grandpa is a man of many lessons, whether intends them to be or not they are. My grandpa is one of the most artistic people I know. He tells me stories about how is aunt taught him how to paint. Sometimes we would watch Bob Ross together. If I was to remember one thing Bob Ross said it would be, no mistakes, just happy accidents. When my grandpa was teaching me how to paint, he hears the words, grandpa I cannot believe I messed up again. Followed by this, he tells me to stand up look back and he says look at the overall picture. Does this one little ‘accident’ as he calls it define what your picture is? Or does it make it unique? As I am so frustrated and can not believe I messed up again, my grandpa looks at me calmly and said “ Taylor, take a step back, does this mistake change your entire picture, or does it make it what it is?” These words stick with me as I imagine my life in an overall picture. I sometimes find myself frustrated, that I can’t seem to do anything right or that nothing is going the way I planned it. Then, I remember the wise words of my grandpa, “ Taylor, take a step back and look. Does this change your overall picture?” I remain calm as I know my grandpa would and put my faith in God. My grandpa always has a smile on his face, no matters what has happened. I have never once heard this man complain, unless country music is on the radio. I often think to myself, if I could be half the person, he is, I would be doing okay.

Always Learning, 

Taylor Roy