Grandpa Andy-isms

Grandpa Andy had a huge impact on my life. For a career Navy man and long-time bachelor, he did an amazing job of being an instant grandpa to 8 and welcomed two more after marrying Grandma. He hung up my diapers to dry, introduced me to pud, and taught me how to get to the ingredients I needed to make it by making a staircase out of the stack of drawers next to the oven.


Many of my favorite stories from my childhood are about him, particularly the expressions he used or created.

One warm evening Mom, Martha, Grandpa and I, took a spin around downtown Santa Clara in that big beautiful 1969 Chevy Caprice. As we drove by the pink walls of the Carmelite monastery, Grandpa asked what it was. Mom explained to him that it was a nunnery (yes, that’s a real word) and that the nuns inside had taken a vow of silence and that their calling was to pray for the condition of the world.

Grandpa responded: Judging from the condition of the world, I think they are in there snickering and throwing Frisbees.

This is a catch phrase I have used (probably too often) at work. At a meeting if someone says “so and so is doing such and such” and we all know he isn’t, I’m likely to say “I think he is snickering and throwing Frisbees…”

Other expressions of his that are a part of my lexicon are:

Next time they are gonna paint it pink (trans: boy, that’s is a gaudy color)
   Or
I’ve slept since then (trans: I don’t remember)
   And of course
Not on my $600 television set! (the value of the tv would increase with the offensive nature of the program)

I have called little girls ‘corina’ and little boys ‘short pants’.

My childhood was so much richer because of him -- everyone should have a sailor grandpa.