Five years ago today, we said goodbye to my Pappy. His passing was quite unexpected and came on the heels of losing my other grandfather, almost two years prior. My Pappy was a one of a kind guy, the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back, the most encouraging word, and always left you feeling like you were the most important person in his world.
I was fortunate to have such an amazing man to call my Pappy Wip. He was known by almost everyone: the oil man (he worked for a local oil company), Wipper, Wip. Known for his fingerless salute (he lost two fingers in a press accident when he was younger), my Pappy always threw those fingers in the air as a sign of irritation, hello, or just to make his presence known. He surely was one of a kind.
My Pappy didn't have to be my pappy. He came into my mother's life as a father figure when my mother and her sisters were just young girls. He loved my grandma through good times and bad and the year my mom married my dad, my grandma and pap got married, too! He was never a step anything, which is probably why I dislike the term step in my own family.
My Pappy supported all our sports, all of our endeavors, everything we did. Everyone should be so fortunate to have a grandfather like Wip Kleintop was!!!
Today, as I walked into the Catasauqua High School gym to watch the Bomber Boys Basketball team, I felt the spirit of Wip Kleintop screaming at me. I knew that I had to write. So here I sit, in the bleachers while everyone else is watching a good JV game end, writing.
To you, my sweet grandfather....5 years of missing you. I two fingerless salute you!!! And I'll have a 7&7 in your honor later!
Until tomorrow, my friends....
Think Thankfully!
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