I don't think about it much

[howeird]

but I grew up with only one grandfather. My father's father died when my father was a teenager. He was Russian, a handyman plumber/roofer/carpenter. I gather he was fairly serious. My mother's father owned a shoe store, was born in the US of Polish parents, and had quite a sense of humor. I don't think the two ever met.

I wonder how much different I would have been with that other influence in my life. The one grandfather I did know shaped a lot of my attitudes, encouraged my sense of humor and practical joking, made me not self-conscious about being bald and toothless.