Over time, I have learned a few things. According to the Gracious Parsonage Mistress, I haven’t learned enough yet, but that’s just her opinion. She paid me a huge compliment the other day when she said, “Honey, you’re as smart as you’ll ever be.”

I’m still not over it, and I walk with my chest out a little, but not in front of her.

Honesty will make me say that I don’t know as much as I really should. So much that I don’t know that I’m not quite sure how much that is. I will never really come to that conclusion.

I would say, and don’t repeat it to my wife, but today I am smarter than ever in my life. To put it bluntly, I’m smarter today than the day she married me. That’s as far as I’m going to go on that topic.

Although I don’t know everything, I have discovered a few things. We live in a very complicated world, and it seems to get more complicated every day. I long for those days when a cell phone was what an inmate used to call someone.

As people, mostly men, get older, they get a bit grumpy. I didn’t know I was getting cranky until the Funny Parsonage Mistress said, “Why are you so cranky today?”

With a face like mine, it’s hard to hide a bad mood.

Since I know that she is always right, I started to entertain the idea that maybe I am just being in a bad mood. Thinking along those lines, he wanted to know what good could come from being grumpy.

I start thinking about myself, and what the hell has made me so cranky? And, more importantly, how the heck can I get over this infectious disease called grumpy-itis?

The more I thought about it, the grumpier I became. Trust me, I don’t want to be in a bad mood with my wife. I need to find a solution before I get any grumpier.

Nothing seemed to help me understand this until one day the grandchildren came over for the day. That’s when I start to understand a solution to overcome this grumpy-itis disease.

When the grandchildren are around, especially the little ones, there is no time to be grumpy. His contagious laugh cures almost any type of bad mood you may have.

If I had time to think about it, which I don’t with grandchildren, I would wonder why and how these children can laugh so much. Everything and anything is a target for his laughter. And my laugh.

Try not to laugh when your grandchildren are around laughing and creating a wonderful sense of chaos. It’s not possible.

After the grandkids left, my wife and I sat in the living room and said to each other, “Wow, that’s fun.” We then fell asleep with smiles on our faces.

That’s when I found the remedy for my grumpy-itis. As a grandfather, I need grandchildren in my life to make sure my life is not in a bad mood. Even days after they’re gone, I’m still smiling and even laughing.

From time to time, my wife says: “Remember…”. Then she continues with something that happened when the grandchildren were here.

Once I had calmed down a bit from all the grandkids activity, a thought took over my mind, which even brought me another smile.

I knew I needed those grandchildren as therapy for my bad mood, but there was something even better than that. Those grandchildren needed me.

In a million years, I never would have thought of that myself. Those grandchildren have so much going for them today that I never thought they would need someone like me.

When the grandchildren are under my “supervision,” they have a freedom they don’t have anywhere else. As a grandfather, I have a very hard time pronouncing the word NO. It didn’t take long for those grandchildren to realize that.

From time to time, I hear: “Let’s ask Grandpa.” So I know they are asking me for something that maybe no one else would approve of. After all, grandparents are like that.

In the world we live in, our grandchildren need to understand that there is something in this world that they can really enjoy. That is my job as a grandfather. To give them reasons to laugh and have fun.

As much as my grandchildren do for me, I do for them too. We are a team and we work well together.

The grandkids need someone in their life who isn’t stressed out with schedules, finances, and all that. They need to see someone in their life who is happy and glad to see them.

Don’t let this out, but they need to see someone in their life who makes them a priority. Nothing is more important in the life of a grandfather than his grandchildren. If you do his job well, they will come to understand that they are the most important people in his life.

I like this bible verse. “Children’s children are a crown for the aged, and parents are the pride of their children” (Proverbs 17:6).

The key to genuinely great grandchildren is grandparents.