This morning, I learned that my Grandfather passed away. He had been sick with dementia for a couple of years and more recently he fell and shattered his hip. Post-surgery, his body began to fail and ultimately led to his passing. I know he is in a better place now. So I do not want to dwell on his passing, but want to dwell on the memories and the things that he taught me.
First of all, I want to address the title of the post, My grandfather was not a dodo head, in fact he was far from it. He was a successful businessman, jet figher pilot in WWII, boxer, high school english teacher, football and basketball coach. In fact, he won a couple of state championships both in football and basketball. But most important of all he taught me, his children and grandchildren how to have fun and always look to better yourself.
So why do I call him a "Dodo Head"? Well, I remember as a young child going to my grandparents to visit. He used to sing this song "Michael is a redhead, Jonathan is a sleep-in-the-bed, Grandpa is a dododo (he would try to say dodo head but my brother and I would shout don't say it). He was always willing to play and have fun with us. In fact, some of my favorite memories with my Grandfather were playing an imaginary game. When he would visit us or vice versa, we were known to see him in the bedroom he was staying in and shoot elephants. We would pretend we were on a hunt and shoot various animals, i.e. elephants, tigers, bears etc... He seemed to miss some and I would have to save him. In fact, I have done this with my own kids on occasion. Taylor and Jared have had a blast, so I will keep the tradition alive.
Two other memories most of my cousins and aunts will remember are my grandfather was missing half of his middle finger on one hand from a ban saw accident. He would always try to count to ten, but when he reached 3 or 8 depending on the starting hand, he would always go "whoops" and not be able to continue. That always made me laugh and also taught me to be careful when using a ban saw. The other one is my grandfather played table tennis really well. He taught his kids and grandchildren how to play as well. Of course, they could never beat him, so he started playing his kids and then his grandkids left handed to even the score. Unfortunately, he became so used to playing left handed, we believe he became better with his left than his right. So no matter how we played him, he always beat us. Secretly, I think he was always better left handed, but wanted to make us feel better about ourselves so we would think we had a chance.
I also remember him being involved in my sporting lives. I am sure my Mother and her sisters were grateful for him teaching us grandkids how to box. I know because I had aunts and uncles enjoyed this because when fights or arguments would break out, instead of yelling or interfering the parents would break out the boxing gloves to solve the problem. Lucky know one ever lost a tooth or suffered a blackeye that I know of, but I know my Grandfather would smile when he would hear these stories. I can remember when I was in 3rd grade I decided to play football. It wasn't long after that he showed up with a tackling dummy and showed me how to hit it. He was so excited. Iwas too at first until I realized how much you have to run when you play football. I never did enjoy that much.
The last experience I would like to share about Grandpa occurred while on my mission. I remember writing him and Grandma to see how things were going. Of course I had to handwrite the letter, since my mission president didn't allow emails or computers. (I am sure people would have appreciated this in my case. I used to joke with Heather and my parents that they would need the urim and thummim to translate my letters. Upon him receiving my letter, he promptly wrote me back. Telling me if I receive this letter I am lucky that he was able to read my return address. He was so upset at me from the bad handwriting because he struggled to be able to read the letter. (This is the English teacher in him coming out. At least he didn't attack my grammar spelling since I was always pretty good at that). Needless to say, when I wrote him back, I was much more conscious of my handwriting and apologized. Unfortunately, it didn't stick very long and for all those reading this who have seen my handwriting, be glad that I am able to type much better than I can handwrite. Even when I was older, he always pushed me to be better even though in this case it didn't work. Sorry Grandpa.
To end, I want to say I am grateful for the opportunity to have known Keith L Wilson and have him as my grandfather. I will always thank him for raising my mother to be who she was and in turn who I ended up becoming. I am glad that he and my mother are now united again with my Aunt Charlene also. So Grandpa I love you and thanks for all you have done for me and your family. You will be missed and I look forward to seeing you again.
Here is a pic from the visit we had last year. This was taken May 2008.
Taylor has also been climbing trees in the neighbors yard trying to be a BIG girl.
We also tired our hand at canning and we canned 21 quart jars of pears and Isaac keeps saying he wants "Daddy's Peaches".
Isaac has decided he likes to sit in things and watch the kids play, silly kid.
We also planted peas in our garden kind of late but to our surprise we actually were able to eat some. They were so tasty!
The latest blessing was watching my green pepper plants take root. I grew them from seed in doors and then planted outside. We were able to pick our first ones on Sunday. How blessed we are to be able to eat from our garden and share with our neighbors as well. I know by us planting a garden and canning pears that we are being blessed for adding to our food storage and reaping the rewards for being self-sufficient with our garden.
As many people know I go exercising during the week with some girls from church and there kids. We were walking along the 
