Personal Essay "Grampa's Babydoll"

It all started the day I was born, Saturday September 15th 1990. It was my Grampa’s championship softball game and he had to leave because I was being born. They ended up winning the game and my Grampa said it was because of me, so that’s where it ALL started. I have been his “Babydoll” every since.

I share a lot of my fond childhood memories with my Grampa. I lived with him and my Gramma for as long as I could remember, probably since I was 1 or 2 years old. It was my mom, brother, 2 sisters, me and my grandparents. I can recall so many memories with my Grampa. One thing he always did was call me Emily. Emily is my middle name so if he really wanted to get my attention he would holler “EMILY!” and my mom would always yell at him and say “her name is not Emily, her name is Caitlin!”

One of the most vivid memories I have with my Grampa is when we used to have cookies and milk. He had this chair…it was HIS chair and we would get some Oreo’s and one tall glass of milk, I would sit on his lap and we would share the milk and cookies. I swear we could have been the spokes people for Oreo. It was just like the commercials. I was little so if I dropped the cookie I would reach in and milk would be up too my elbow. Cookies and milk was my favorite. I also loved watching wrestling on Monday nights with Grampa, or like he likes to call it “wrasslin.” Oh yahh he had me watching “wrasslin” and scary movies like Trolls, when I was probably 5.

I was kind of a “tom boy” growing up. I used to shave with Grampa. I had this little yellow, plastic, razor…fake of course, that I would use. He would say “hey I’m going to shave, you shaving with me?” I would jump at the offer, go in the bathroom and stand on the stool so I could actually see in the mirror. I would smear shaving cream ALL over my face just like him. Then I just watched him and copied with my little plastic razor. When we were done he’d give me a little Old Spice and I would put it on my neck and he would put some on his. I always wondered why it stung him and didn’t sting me, maybe because I wasn’t really shaving, and I’m glad I will never have to.

Grampa has a barn with chickens, roosters, and rabbits. We would fill up the big, blue water jug and feed my old dog Deon then trudge threw the grass to the old rickety red barn. We would collect the eggs from the chicken coop and feed them their corn and grains. Then we would go to the back of the barn and feed the rabbits. Some rabbits were nice and some were evil and they’d attack your hand so I always had Grampa feed those ones.

Then there were dump days. We would take all the trash and recycling and load it in the back of Grampa’s truck. We lived in Berkley, so we would drive to the dump right next to the common and I would do all the recycling and Grampa would do the trash because it was too heavy for me. They had this area where people would leave toys and stuff they didn’t want and every time I’d manage to come home with something because Grampa would say “isn’t this nice, do you like this.” I would come home and my mom would say “some more junk to add to the pile you already have.” But boy did I love it. Whenever I went with him in his truck he would sing and sometimes he would even let me steer, even though I wasn’t very good at it! He would always steer with his knees and I thought it was the best thing ever!

When it started getting warm in the spring Grampa and I would go outside and play some softball in the back yard. He’d toss the ball and I would “rip” it. He’s the one who taught me how to play; I’ve broken a few windows in the barn because of it. I never played softball other than in my back yard where he taught me, until high school. Freshman year I was on JV, Sophomore to Senior year I was on Varsity, he came to every game he had the chance to, and he loved to watch me play. Truthfully if it wasn’t for him I probably never would have known how to play.

My Grampa and I have countless memories together, those are just some of the real memorable ones. He always tells me how much he loves me and how every time he sees me I’m more and more beautiful. I lived with him and my Gramma until my mom and I moved out almost 2 years ago when I was 17, so I don’t see them as much anymore. Every time I see him he tells me he misses me so much and he always squeezes me so tight and tells me that he will love me forever and ever and to never forget that even when he’s gone. I have tears in my eyes as I write this because I’m dreading that day. My Grampa means the world to me and I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it wasn’t for him. He tells me he can’t wait till I get married and have children because they’re going to be so beautiful just like me. When I get married my Grampa will be on one arm and my dad on the other.

My Grampa has played a huge role in my life. I saw him more than I saw my dad because my mom and dad weren’t together and I only visited him on the weekends. So I grew up with my Grampa. He always says I’m his daughter and my Gramma and mom yell at him “she’s your granddaughter!” They always tease and say my Uncle wasn’t the baby of the family I was even though I’m a grandchild.

I am so honored to say that Arthur Frank Newhook Sr. is my Grampa. To signify my love for him I got a tattoo that says “Grampa’s Babydoll” on my right foot. When I showed it to him I thought he was going to cry, I actually showed it to him on father’s day. It meant so much to him. That tattoo hurt extremely bad, but I tell ya it was worth every ounce of pain.
Ever since I was born my Grampa has been keeping all kinds of things from when I was born in this shadow box. It has my hospital hats, my baby hand and foot prints, some pictures, my little student of the month ribbon from elementary school and what not. For my 19th birthday, which just passed, he gave it to me and told me I was getting older so he thought it was time that I have it. I was fighting back tears as he whispered how much he loved me in my ear as my family sat and watched me open my gifts.

My Grampa is an inspiration and role model to me ever since I was a little girl. I will never ever forget all of the memories we’ve shared and when I have kids they will know how wonderful their great Grampa is. I will love him forever and ever with all my heart and don’t you ever forget that.

Thoughts on Brainstorming.

Brainstorming is a good way of throwing all of your ideas out on the table. There's not really any organizational way of doing it, you pretty much make a web of all your idea's. I like just spill my guts onto paper, what ever pops in my head I'll right down and I will be the only one who understands it. I use this to get ideas and I take each one and branch off of it. I automatically knew what I was going to write about, which is my Grampa because he means the world to me.