I used to see him every day. On January 2008 my grandpa passed away from prostate cancer. He made it through harvest and Christmas, which was very special for my family. This essay gives three reasons how my grandpa’s death affected me.  Things I really miss are seeing him every day, not going to breakfast with him,  not getting to spend time with him in the tractor and combine.

I never get to see my best friend anymore because every morning my grandpa would show up at the farm at 9 or 9:30 ready to do anything. He would always be doing something, if he was using our scraper, or fixing something that he recently broke. The scraper we have had to weigh at least 5000 pounds. It had been beefed up, made stronger and fixed at least 100 times. I can remember sitting in the house eating lunch and I would see him pull in the yard with only the dolly wheels. The pin from the scraper would break and he would take off, never looking back to see if it was there. He would get back home to find a trail of oil leading back to the field. If he wasn’t using the scraper he would be working to make something work better in his mind. Now I stop and ask my dad “What the heck did he do this for?” my dad just shakes his head not knowing why.

Every Wednesday I would go to Welch with him to have breakfast. We would meet all of his friends that he was in the service with. Pancakes with an oreo in the center is what I got every time I went there with him. I was always scared of one of his friends cause he lost his hand in the war. So he had a hook for a hand instead. I had seen “Peter Pan”, so I  thought he was Captain Hook. All of the other guys I wasn’t afraid of. I got to hear so many interesting stories about what they did back when they were in the service.

During the Spring I would always ride with him in the Case IH 8940 when he was digging up the fields getting ready for planting but now I do that. We would hit a washout or a rut and I would hit my head on the window. At first it always bothered me but now it’s no big deal because it has happened so many times. During the Fall I would ride in  the combine. We pick my great uncle’s corn because they don’t have a combine. We would harvest our corn in the morning then I would go with him to lunch. After we ate we would go to my great uncle’s farm and harvest their corn or beans. Then at 9 or 10 o’clock grandpa would call grandma, and she would pick me up because I was asleep. She would bring me to her house to sleep even though I lived right down the road. Then the next morning we would fill the holding bin at my great uncles and we would come home and pick corn.

I don’t get to see my best friend, I don’t get to go to breakfast with him, and never get to ride with him in the tractor and combine anymore. My most significant event that has happened in my life was when my Grandpa Norbert John Stein passed away. My grandpa was a person who I looked up too for many years. He played a very important role in my life and that is why my Grandpa is so special to me.