Cody Mclain
To me, he was PopPop… my grandfather.
When we visited, I spent a lot of time with Grandma, but Pop had his own way of bonding with us. Looking back, a lot of it was character building… I just didn’t realize it at the time.
In the kids’ bedroom, he had these massive speakers… at least they felt massive to me as a kid. The receiver was in his room on the other side of the house, and every single morning we’d wake up to classical music blasting at a level that made sleeping in impossible… or at least that’s how I remember it. So it was up and at ’em, into the kitchen, hoping for Pop’s beloved Golden Grahams. And if we were really lucky…Sailboat French toast. We drank milk out of coffee mugs with little animal characters at the bottom, so of course we had to finish every drop.
Pop wasn’t shy about putting us to work either. “A penny a pinecone” was a regular job, given all the pine trees in his yard. Cutting grass, weed eating, raking, cleaning gutters, blowing off the driveway… we did it all. To cool off we jumped in the unheated hot tub. When we came barreling back into the house from the hot tub, he was always right there to stop us from dripping water across his living room.
One image that always sticks with me is Pop in his La-Z-Boy, martini in hand, watching golf, the Astros, or the Saints… giving us his own play-by-play like we were right there in the game with him.
Golf outings at the country club were a staple. That seemed to be his favorite way to spend time with us, and he kept things interesting… five-foot gimmes one minute, then hitting you with a “gotcha” the next.
I loved digging through his attic… records, magazines, postcards, old pictures, little knickknacks… iykyk.
His fridge was always stocked with every kind of soda you could think of… and my personal favorite back then, Clearly Canadian.
We were blessed to have a Christmas at Pop and Grandma’s… it was something special.
Church wasn’t optional. We sat in the pews while Pop and Grandma sang in the choir. As a kid, it almost felt like they were part of the show… and somehow, I could always pick their voices out of the crowd. They were proud to introduce us to their church family, and that always meant something.
Even though my time with Pop was limited, the memories and the lessons he left me with will stay forever. I’m grateful for every moment… and for the impact he had on my life. Miss you Pop!
-Cody
