One of the rewards of being a geezer

Downeaster

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Grandson Casey is 28, medically retired from the Marine Corps (trashed his back) and married with two boys. His wife is originally from New Hampshire. They bought a house in North Carolina after he was retired but recently decided to sell and move back to Maine, closer to both his and her families.

Seeing as they were unable to close a deal on a suitable house in time, they are living with us for a while. (Another story or six there...)

His boys are 4 and 7 and pretty much your standard issue little boys with two speeds: Wide Open and sleeping.

Many years ago, when Casey was just a little tyke himself, I bought him a John Deere branded Big Wheel tricycle. He and his brother put about a million miles on that thing. When they got bigger, it languished of course, and I rescued it before it got lost, destroyed or thrown away.

When his first boy was big enough to enjoy it, I restored it with new bearings, pedals, rubber and a paint job and sent it down to them in North Carolina.

caseyjayden.jpg


That's Casey on the left with his pet turkey and his son Jayden on the right on the restored trike.

I got to watch Jayden riding up and down the same driveway on the same trike his Dad had at that age. While it made me feel my age a little to watch my great-grandson riding his trike, it also warmed my heart.

While I was at it, I introduced Jayden to the old "playing card in the spokes" motor for his two-wheeler. Being a typical little boy, he thought it was cool. Anything that makes noise is a Good Thing. :D
 
Dang I was feelin' old till I read you have a 28 year old grandson! My grandson is only 5 this last Jan.! And I had to cheat and marry the second time to a woman who already had a daughter. So at least if this kid turns out to be a bad one they can't blame me for any of the genetics!
 
Great story DE...makes me kind of regret not being a father.
 
Great story DE...makes me kind of regret not being a father.

There are occasional rewards. There are also times when I questioned my sanity...

Grandchildren are said to be your revenge for putting up with your kids. Due to circumstances, I was fairly closely involved with raising my grandchildren too.

Now, GREAT grand-children...THAT'S revenge! :rock:
 
Thanks for sharing DE - all the best to the little chaps. I’ll bet they put some hard miles on that trike!

Pete
 
Great story DE, it’s nice that you are so close with your kids, grandkids and now great grandkids! I’ve also gotta say, I don’t know any other great grandfather zooming around on a 100 hp sport bike! You’re setting the bar pretty high for the rest of us fella. Keep it up brother! :thumbsup:

Your story brought back memories. After WW2 my dad used his GI bill to learn electronics and in 1960, my parents gave up farming and moved our family to a suburb of Phoenix. I was just a tyke at the time, and while the city kids were roller skating up and down the neighborhood sidewalks, I was riding this. Hey......I was a farm kid. :)
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You have good taste in tractors!

When I was growing up in central Michigan, the Farmall M and Super M were King! Dad had a Super W6 which was the Wheatland version of the SM.

And speaking of zooming around, I gave serious thought to getting the bike out of hibernation yesterday. Mid-50's and sun. A bit too much wind tho, and 5-8" of snow predicted for today. Spring in Maine is highly frustrating...
 
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