Tuesday's Tribute: The Boy Next Door

A Jay and Deb Production.

The Boy Next Door: I CALL HIM GAN GAN

I grew up in the house next door to my Grandma & Grandpa. I call them Nanny & Grand Daddy. From the moment I could baby talk(which I did for a long time because I was the baby in my family & not one person felt it necessary to correct me because it was "cute"), I dubbed my Grand Daddy "Gan Gan". Not one other grandchild had called him this, so I don't know why I did... but it stuck. I don't think I even realized I was calling him something different from everyone else! Gan Gan was a great playmate for me. He would sit on the porch and watch as I made sand pies(similar to mud pies... except I would substitute mud for sand because it's what was on hand... I was a regular Rachel Ray, I tell you!), and then he would actually take them inside and place them in the oven for me. My Nanny would find them later after we'd long forgotten about them & I'm sure my poor Gan Gan would get a mouthful, but it never stopped him. He was also a big fan of Beauty parlor and would allow me to wreck his face with my Bonne Bell makeup, God bless him. & Then there were rainy afternoons where we would sit in the den and watch some of the mail order cartoons my Nanny would buy us. Grand Daddy would sit and laugh with me like it was the first time we'd seen it. He was one of my first playmates, you see? I love him so much for that.

One afternoon(I believe my Mom and I were just getting home after a kindergarten field trip) I announced to my Mom "I am going to Grand Daddy's!". I remember her grabbing my hand to walk me over and saying, "You don't call him that! You call him Gan Gan!". "From now on I am going to call him Grand Daddy!", I said with a smile. My Mom says that's one of the saddest things she's ever heard me say. By the time I was 14 I was back to calling him Gan Gan... the whole Grand Daddy thing just wasn't me, apparently! I think I realized how sweet it was that only I called him that. It's our thing.

I was 2 in this shot. I'm pretty sure he'd still let me make him over if I asked :)

WHAT A MAN!