I think the thing I remember my grandfather for the most, was his height.
He always seemed like a giant and I was a little girl, but it seemed the taller I got, the shorter he became.
The last time I saw grandpa, I bent over to give him a hug and tell him I loved him. When grandpa passed, grandma pulled out all these amazing pictures of her and him. I came across a picture of her standing next to him in his army uniform. And then I came across a picture of grandpa in a uniform that I didn’t recognize. I asked grandma what uniform that was, and she told me it was his uniform for the HVAC company. I was taken aback. Grandpa stood with four other men, and he was the tallest. To realize grandpa had once been almost 6 foot tall, and an HVAC technician, had my mind boggled. Grandma said he was the most handsome HVAC tech in the entire company. I asked her when he decided he wanted to become an HVAC technician, and she told me he had taken up the profession even before she met him. Grandpa was an HVAC tech long before people knew it was a necessity. When grandpa was doing air conditioning, it was only for the people who either owned big companies, or had a lot of money. The common person couldn’t afford to have a modern heating and air conditioning system. Just the way grandma talked about grandpa, made me proud to know he was my grandfather and one of the original HVAC technicians.