He made me cry

My 93-year-old grandfather drove his big Cadillac over 1000 miles to visit my mom (his daughter), me and my kids (his great-grandchildren). This is the man who taught himself how to downhill skill at 69 years old and is married to a woman over 20 years younger than him.

A few years ago, while standing in his apartment, Poppy showed me a painting of a waterfall over a dam. He told me it was Harper's Mills near Belton, SC where he grew up. His mother painted it as a young woman before she met her husband, my great-grandfather. Poppy said he only had a few of her paintings. He explained that while he planned to give it to me he would like to wait until he died because he likes to look at it.

Last night, Poppy and his wife brought from their car a bubble-wrapped package. Inside was the painting of the dam at Harper's Mills. He wanted me to have it now. I just burst into tears prompting one son to fly across the room in a panic, another to climb on top of me telling me to stop crying and my toddler saying "Mommy crying!" as she snuggled into my neck. All while my grandfather is trying to hand me a lovely painting by his mother.