superbowl

Superbowl weekend already??  Where does the time go? This year the Superbowl is quite different for me.  It feels the same in one respect because I've already bet on the Patriot's to beat the Giants in the Superbowl.  I thought I had a sure win that year!   Nope, it's different because I don't have my bettin' buddy... (this picture was taken Feb 2002)

Steve's Grandpa (aka Gramps) and I had been waging a dollar bet on the Superbowl for more than a decade.  I wish I had kept a ledger so I could tell you exactly when we started and how much I had lost... but I didn't.  I'm going to blame that one on silly procrastination... oh, I'll remember and write it down later - yah right!  You don't know how bummed I am right now that I didn't record these special events better.  

Gramps left us and went home to heaven with our Savior Jesus almost a year ago.  Honestly, he's in a much better place and I'm grateful that he's not suffering anymore.  He lived to be almost 91 years old.  Gramps use to tease me all year before our bet and rub it in if he won or tell me how he was gonna get his dollar back that year if he had lost.  We would joke all year about our bet.  The best part was how we would pay each other.  One year I paid him in all pennies.  Another time I paid him quarterly by writing $0.25 checks and using foreign currency.  Yes, I even paid him one year with a Canadian dollar and added the exchange rate in! :) 

He had his own unique ways of paying me, too.  The best one was when he sent me the "new dollar bill" with his picture taped to the front!  It was his old Sam's club card picture that he cut out and taped on... how ironic is that now that we live in Walmart's backyard!?!

 Here's one of the letter's he sent me back in 2004 as he returned an 'overpayment'... 

For the record, I lost the bet last year, too.  He picked the Packers last year before being hospitalized.  He passed just about a month after the Superbowl.  I hadn't paid him before he died but I made sure to leave his dollar in his casket.  He won last year and earned a much better prize - the great high calling of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

I really miss Gramps!  He loved his family so unconditionally and individually that we all felt like we were special to him.  Not many people have that kind of gift.  I'm so grateful to have witnessed and experienced such amazing love.   So, this year I'm gonna pretend that my dollar is back on the Patriot's and remember Gramps.  He left us a wonderful legacy and I look forward to seeing him again someday in heaven!  I love you Gramps! :)