My Grandpa's Belt

A few weeks ago my grandma stopped by with my parents. She had come along with them on a trip to Bismarck. While here she gave Gerrit the belt of his great grandpa - my Grandpa Slagh. I think that was really nice and, although Gerrit never knew him, he really likes the belt. Yes, we did name our firstborn son after his great grandpa, and used the same spelling.

Grandpa passed away in 1995, shortly before I met Nancy. Nancy and I were married in 1996 and Gerrit was born in 1997. Grandma has said she wishes Grandpa could have met Nancy (and I'm sure also many other new members of our extended family). So do I. Even though it has been over thirteen years, I still think of him often and miss him.

No one is perfect, but I think he was a good Christian example to his family. There are probably many instances to mention, but one always pops into my mind first. A family in our church had just lost their wife and mother to an electrocution on the farm and Grandpa was one of the first, if not the first, to go visit Delvin and be with him. Delvin and Grandpa were friends but that still could not have been an easy thing to do. As a young man that had an impact on me.

I am a firm believer of the good influence that grandparents can have on their grandchildren. It was one of the reasons that Nancy and I took a fairly substantial pay cut and moved to Bismarck from the Brookings, SD area almost nine years ago. In Bismarck we are a little over one hour from my parents and just under four hours from Nancy's; while in Brookings we were around five hours and nine hours away, respectively. We still don't visit as often as we probably should, but for sure more than we would have living so far away. I know circumstances don't always allow it, but in our case I'm glad we were able to move back to the area to be closer to family.

This video is a favorite song of mine - "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout The Good Old Days)" by The Judds. In 1996 I was in Springfield, MO for work and went to a show in Branson; and the performers sang this song. I came so close to bawling like a baby!