Gary Noel

Grandpa, You Have Old Hair Gary Noel

The idea for these stories began with an amusing incident with one of my grandsons. After repeating it often enough to become obnoxious, I began to think about how many other humorous, and not so humorous, events that happen in our lifetime evaporate and become forgotten history. That's why I wrote Grandpa, You Have Old Hair. I wanted our grandchildren to know a little more about our foibles and struggles we faced to get to where we are today. But I also wanted them to know that, despite the hardship, life also had a lightness to it. There was always joy and fun to be found. All in all, this is meant to be an uplifting story of two regular humans living, loving, and growing old together. I suppose you could say it's a love story, too, but not the artificial Hollywood-type. This is real.

I was also motivated to write this story due to my own limited knowledge of my family history. I know nothing of my grandparents, all of whom died before I was born. I know very little about my parents' childhood and their early lives together. I don't even know how or where they met. I do know they married and began a family during the Depression. Being the youngest of three children, I rarely engaged my folks in any serious conversation, let alone about their lives.

I would give anything to spend more time with them and learn about their past. It's too late for that, now. This reality saddens me, and I didn't want our grandchildren to feel the same way in twenty or so years. After reading this book, hopefully they won't.