ITT: Bittersweet Memories

>>30957946
oh, to clarify, the 8 years spent inside includes the college

>>30957946
This makes me feel like I've missed out. I wish i had a great dad.

>>30957946
Didn't realize it was Feelsday Friday

>>30957946
Glad you had fun with your dad OP, mine was a piece of shit but my step father was badass and I still go shoot with him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q02vovRNwFQ

Flesh dies, spirit never does as long as it is passed on. Don't let yourself lose it again anon.

I was actually just thinking about this a few hours ago. Damn you /k/, for reading my mind.

>grew up very close to my grandfather on my mom's side.
>Once he had me helping him chip wood.
>We had this old rust woodchipper that sounded like it was about to explode when you turned it on.
>I was being careful, putting small branches and twigs into it while he was chopping up the big tree we had cut down.
>He got done chopping and noticed I was only putting small branches in.
>So he walks over and tells me what he always told me when I was doing something stupid.
>"Son, if you're gunna shear sheep ya gotta be smarter then the sheep."
>He then heaved a HUGE branch into the chipper while still lecturing me on hard work.
>The branch got to the thickest point and we heard what sounded like shredding metal, and we could smell smoke.
>CLANKCLANK CLANK BANG
>My grandpa got wide eyed and yelled in his deep Texan accent "SHHHHEEEEIIIIIT BOY"
>We spent the rest of the fall afternoon chipping wood by hand.


I don't know what that has stuck with me. My Pa just had this history of being very DIY oriented but we'd end up destroying tools. Some of the best memories of him I have involved crazy explosions, or nearly losing a limb. But we always got the job done.

I have more stories if /k/ wants to hear.

>>30958279
please post more stories

I want to have good feels reading about Grandpa Tex

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>>30957946
>Go to home
>Find Mother's Biological Grandpapi pictures and albums
>Mother reminiscent some memories
>Served as Paratrooper for 'Nam
>Was Vaquero as fuck
>OC a .357 Magnum in PR, also had a Winchester lever gun
>Was the most respected man in the town and city
>Was looked up to by the neighbors
>Was murdered with his own firearms around 40yrs of age
>Mother witnessed his dead body
>Trials came and thanks to corrupt system, murderers got a slap on the wrist (And they got away with my grandpa's lever action and revolver)
>To this date, it made my mother hoplophobic about firearms but she at least respects my decision to own firearms in the near future
>tfw my grandpapi will never teach me how to shoot
>tfw He will never teach me how to round up cattle on horseback, brand them and milk them
>tfw He will never teach me how to butcher pork and cattle and make some kick ass lechon and ribs
>tfw He will never teach me how to become a man with a green thumb
>tfw He will never discipline me and my brother with a heavy hand just like my mother and uncle so they'd be functional and successful adults
>tfw He won't teach me family economics and become secure for years to come
>tfw He's dead
And for that reason alone, I'm enlisting and following his footsteps so I can bring my family back into shape and prevent them from becoming a faggot liberal like my brother

>>30958366
There's something oddly comforting in the fact that these Cadillacs of men seem to love on in some way through genetics

Apparently I take after my own grandpa who died when I was 3, because I'm enlisting in the army, and plan on buying a piece of land to try my hand at small scale farming when I come bacl

>>30958293
You want feels bro? You ready for some feels? Ok.

>Be 9 year old me. Nearly died to Bacterial Meningitis.
>was in a coma for several days, about a week.
>I "died" on the airlift to the better hospital.
>Fast forward about 2 weeks.
>My parents decide that now that I may still die. But my chances of living are good, so either way they want me to be with family.
>It's 5 days before Christmas and my Pa and Grandma fly me back to their house, in my hometown.
>I'm angry.
>I had brain swelling which lead to headaches that made me pass out.
>My muscles would spasm and made me feel like I was getting cut up.
>I couldn't pee without a straw.
>I was unable to walk.

Fast forward a few days.

>I'm at my lowest low point, ever. To this day, this is the darkest time I've ever experienced.
>I'm still just so pissed at everything.
>And I was tired of having to cry like a baby, to have someone come get me out of bed.
>I could hear my Pa in the other room. It was early in the morning and he thought I was still asleep.
>I didn't want him to come get me. I wanted to just...walk in there.
>so I tried.
>I flopped into the floor and tried to stand.
>No use.
>Had to crab walk to the closed door
>I was too weak to even stand on my knees
>So I just threw myself up onto the doorknob and held on until it turned
>then I pushed it open by falling forward


Con.

>>30958389
>There's something oddly comforting in the fact that these Cadillacs of men seem to love on in some way through genetics
I know right? My family always said I'm like a mirror inage of my grandpa in personality and in image. They always said I had an interest in the military since I was still walking in diapers.
> I'm enlisting in the army, and plan on buying a piece of land to try my hand at small scale farming when I come bacl
Are you me? I have plans on getting out of the commonwealth and probably buying up property in Wyoming for land after I finish serving.

>>30958439
Continue.

>>30958458
It's so weird that so many grandfathers fit the archetype for what a manly man is, well, probably not so weird since they're likely the progenitors

>grandpa was in national guard
>goes to college
>becomes probation officer
>lives in california desert with my father
>teaches father hunting and animal husbandry
>OCs a .357 and wears a hat like a cowboy
>amasses a collection of 30 guns that are seized and sold by his current wife when he dies

>>30958439
>I army crawled down the long hallway ins silence.
>I tried to get past him without him seeing me.
>I knew he would try to come pick me up.
>So I was as silent as possible.
>I still remember the way my weak arms felt
>Like I had been climbing a mountain for hours.
>I had only moved a few feet down the hall.
>I finally got to the kitchen doorway.
>He was standing in it with a cup of coffee.
>He tried to come help me, and I just screamed the only thign I could think to say. "No!"
>I didn't have to say anymore.
>He knew he had to let me do this.
>He knew I was taking back control in my own way.
>So he followed me to the living room, just sipping coffee.
>I went inch by inch.
>And made it to the big comfy recliner in the living room
>It looked like another mountain from the floor.
>I clumsily climbed into it.
>I couldn't do it at first and I looked to him
>I was about to give up and ask for his help.
>He just said "You come this far boy. Git up there."


And that's how I manned the fuck up at age nine because of my Pa. My mom, or dad, or grandma would never have let me, most likely, risk my life crawling through the house as little more than a mangled corpse. He knew that I would have probably given up on living if it hadn't been for that morning.

>>30958389
It has to have something with genetics. I had a great uncle who all I knew about was that he'd died in WWII, and it made my Grandfather very bitter towards the military. The last thing he said to my dad, his son, when he went to Marine boot camp was, "See you in a few months, you won't make it through."

Fast forward 40 years and I enlist in the Army and tell my grandfather. He asks to see my papers. I show them to him, and he tears up, and hugs me. Only time I remember in my entire life that he did. He takes me into his closet, digs out an old ammo box and opens it. Digs around for awhile, then hands me my Uncle's Engineer crest.

Uncle Cecil had been a Combat Engineer who was attached to the 101st at Bastogne, where he won a silver star for actions he made as part of the QRF. After the Bulge, he was clearing mines in Germany when a sniper took him.

I carried that crest all through Basic, and when they were pinning our crests on at Engineer hill, I handed it to my DS and requested he use that one instead of the new one. It was old and delicate, so he punched me before pinning it instead of after, and it's still on my uniform today.

>>30958279

>"SHHHHEEEEEIIIIIIT BOY"

>mysides.gif

>grandpa on my mom's side died a few days ago
>was an avid fisher/hunter
>10 or so years ago he have me a hunting game and fishing game for my computer
>its the only memory i remember of him
>he wanted to be cremated because he was humble as fuck and didnt want anything like a funeral
>family is thinking we should spread his ashes at the rod and gun club he had a lifetime membership at

He died almost exactly 2 years after my grandpa on my dad's side, who was a WWII vet. That generation of both sides of my family had been big into guns, though with my parents it kinda skipped a generation (my mom because "she was a girl" and dad because he was more into art and photography). I wish I'd gotten the chance to know my grandparents better. Feels bad man.

>>30958503
This makes me wish I'd gotten the chance to really know my grandfather even more

>>30958505
It's good that great men like him got to have children before he went overseas

>>30958553
Same here, man... same here...

>>30957946
Similar loss of my dad here after I moved out and grew up. Your dad lived his life. He did enough to always be with you.

>tfw I've given up every time my dad has tried to get me to man up
>tfw I know he's dissapointed in me
>tfw it hurts more than you can possibly imagine and I'm crying as I type this

>>30958570
I was lucky.

>>30958546
>Be me when I was about 10.
>My Pa (mom's dad.) and my dad are in the garage making a kitchen table for our new house.
>They are polar opposites in all ways.
>My dad is super perfectionist.
>Pa was very..."Just git the job dun, boy."
>They are chopping some wood (Just noticing the wood theme here...)for the table
>Pa went out and bought a monster chopsaw.
>Dad is using it, cutting slowly.
>He would switch off with Pa, who would chop wood super quick without actually measuring.
>Dad is cringing.
>Dad goes back to calmly slicing the wood.
>Pa walks up and says "Sheeit Son, just git after it. We got beer to be drankin. Hurry yer shit up."
>So dad just goes "LOLOK"
>starts chopping the wood as fast as Pa.
>I decide to get a drink
>As I am about to walk through the garage door
I hear a "BOOOM" then the sound of wood clanking around the room.
>Dad had chopped fast, and hit a knot in the wood.
>The chunk he was cutting exploded into a cloud of splinters.
>Pa is on the other side of the garage and once my "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" subsides I realize he is yellign one long drawn out "SHEEEEEEEEIIIIIITTTTTT"
>Dad is covered in wood dust and bleeding
>Pa has splinters in the arm he shielded his face with
>The light above my dad was blown out.
>A pretty big chunk of wood had flown and dented Pa's $80,000 truck.
>Dad built the rest of the table his way.
>Pa drank beer.

I never knew either of my grandfathers, one killed himself and the other died in a bombing two months before I was born.

>>30958636
Why can't you man up anon?

>grandfather and i were very close
>dad wasn't into hunting and fishing
>i was, so naturally we both got along
>he would take me fishing in colorado
>fly fishing for days
>as I get older I am interested in going to a military college, commission into the army
>he went to one and commissioned in the army
>he is ecstatic that I am willing to haze myself for four years
>make it though the bullshit, parents weekend my sophomore year
>he gets out of my dad's truck after parade
>im all spiffy
>his first words to me were "uniforms look fucking familiar"

That weekend was the last time I saw him alive. He lived on the West coast and died in November of my junior year. I still have his .45 he carried in Korea, it comes out once a year to have a few rounds put through it.

>>30958657
I try so hard to when ever to situation presents itself, but I never can and I do know why

>>30958638
>tfw no texan pa to yell "SHEEEEEEEIIIIIT" every time something goes wrong
mine was mild mannered as fuck

>>30958678
Well define a time that a situation presented itself.

I don't have a son, so maybe I can give some dadly advice finally. I'm going to have two twin grills. So I need to practice parenting advice anyway.

>>30958678
What kind of situations?

>>30958660
Must be nice to have his gun, my grandfather passed and grandma held on to the guns just long enough for her house to get robbed. I was supposed to get the guns the following weekend. Still hurts to think about.

>>30958689
Best of luck with dual grills, at least you get to scare off little shit head boys.

>>30958688
The best "SHHEEEIT" story goes as follows.

>Be up inna mountains in Colorado.
>Pa takes my cousin and I fishing.
>We get into this sketchy as fuck rowboat and he paddles us out into the middle of a lake.
>We catch not fish for hours.
>Cousins tarts getting bored. I'm starting to fall asleep.
>So Pa starts to paddle us back to shore.
>But suddenly we get a bite on my cousin's line.
>He's too little to pull the fish in
>It's pretty big one.
>Pa gets excited and drops the oar...off the edge of the boat.
>We get the fish wrestled onto the boat
>Pa turns around and the paddle has floated out of arm's reach.
>Out on the super quiet, clear lake, on a wonderful morning..."SHHHEEEEEIT" rang out over the water.
>He made my cousin and I our arms to paddle him just close enough o get the paddle back.

>>30958699
It is. He refused to get any other handgun so he had it until the day he died. We also go my great uncle's .38 long colt revolver he carried when he was in the Navy along with the .45.

My grandfather only fired the .45 once in combat once, and that was over his shoulder to get back to the grease gun he had in the truck.

>>30958173
Everything genetic and memetic of your parents will be all but gone in three generations.
Your great grandparents in their prime wouldn't even recognize you as family. You're physically and culturally entirely different for them to an extreme degree.

Sorry to interrupt your comforting fantasy.

>>30957946

>I will never meet my great x a bunch grandfather
>Were since a generational Army family
>Still my favorite sailor of all time
>showed my daughter his part of the family history book
>always get excited for the pictures depicting him using the Fair Americans cannons on land based natives

I will never meet this man, nor will I ever see him smile with approval for kickin terry in the ass.

>>30958705
I'm so excited. I got to do it for my dad when he was working and my sister sneaked boys over when I lived at home.

>>30958694
Mainly stuff that happened when I was younger since I don't see him much anymore, for example when I was a teenager he would Occasionally ask me to do chores while he was at work because he worked ~14 hours a day. I would go to do something simple like clean the bathroom and freeze up then end up sitting there all saying trying to clean it and not getting anything accomplished, I don't know why it happened but I could always see the disappointment in his eyes when he got home and that hurt more than anything he could have said

>>30958800

Well there's literally nothing you can do about the past. I feel disappointed in myself regularly about not doing schoolwork, but the only thing you can do is try harder the next time.

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>>30958037
Me too bro. I'm fortunate to have an awesome friend who is teaching me, but that can never replace a good father

My Grandfather is an old italian horse rancher.
> Came over tocanada without papers, hid in the boat literal WOP.
> Before he owned land, he worked construction. He put up a tenth of the houses in Edmonton by hand with his brothers, so they could send money back to pay for my other two uncles to become an architect and a phd in physics.

He's old, and I love him so much.
> I don't get to see him more than once a year because I live in vancouver area.

The man taught me how to shoot with the old single shot, break Cooey.
> Bought it for $10 after he got his first farm.
> went and shot magpies he trapped with it
> shot clays in the old paddock next to field where he turned hay
> I remember his whistling as he walked
> a quiet man, but joyful and humble

> made me a knife from antler and steel. Still have it sharp today
> he gave the cooey to my dad, but nobody likes shooting it so I'm gonna ask for it when I move the other guns to my own safe
> recently made him a machete by hand

What can I do to show him I love him? I might only see him a few more times, /k/

I'm seeing him and my grandmother in about 3 weeks.

>>30959158
got a bit sloppy typing that.
Clarification:
>he would trap magpies, and take me to shoot them so I could learn to shoot
>we'd shoot together in the field in August; the whole family would be there and we'd all take turns. My mom and grandma would bring cold iced tea and food meanwhile.

>the machete he made my dad is all hand filed and a silvery steel mirror finish
>the office in the barn smelt like horse, but we would sit there while he compared blueing, and just sit in company

>>30958638
Well looks like us Texas folk are alot alike.

>>30957946
a single manly tear shed for you anon,
Godspeed

>>30957946
>Father is 35 when I'm born
>Worked retail his whole life so knees are basically dust
>Get first gun at the age of 16 by grandpa, a Winchester model 67
>Bug my now 51 year old father to bring me innadesert to go shoot it
>"Haha sure son let's go"
>I keep eyeing it in the back seat and my dad is telling me about the range out there an that well go there one day but for today he wants to just go out in the middle of nowhere and bond
>Really don't go out all that far, didn't know then but thinking back he was in no shape to battle the desert
>We finish off our box of 22s and go check out the damage done to the garbage we found out there
>I was fully autistic taking prone shots and stabilizing it but he could tell I was really into it
>The one and only time we ever shot guns together and the last time we bonded over anything
If I was brought into his life when he was just a bit younger I feel as if we could be have been closer but I always felt like that was a boundary and kept us from getting to know each other.
Still cherish that day though.