December 1st.....my Grandpas birthday.Cecil Rehmel has been gone 31 years but,I know hes been watching over me everyday.Hed take me fishing,and hunting.Teach me how to fight,and when not to fight.Lead me on to play practical jokes on folks.Light me up a cigar while he was making home brew.Tell me stories about how he had to quit school in the eighth grade to work after his father was killed in the coal mine.He had to work and take care of his mother and four brothers and a sister.....one summer I slipped down to the pond...I was about 7 and took the plug out of the boat....went back up to the house knowing Grandpa was gonna go fishing....well about 15 minutes later he came marching up the house all soaking wet as the boat sunk.I thought oh boy Im gonna get it.lol.He said,John!! I show you how to play jokes on people but not me!!!....finally he just smiled,and said get me a glass of tea.haha....I knew Grandpa was strong for a old man...later I found out from others stories just how strong as a youngster.....anyway when I was 10,and he was 62 a man driving pass our house ran off the road and purposely hit our birddog.Grandpa saw it,and I was crying so he ran in the house grabbing his shotgun but,grandma hung on him,and talked him into staying put.Grandpa told me well see him again...meaning the driver as he knew who did it.Coming back from town one day a car up ahead flagged us down as it had a flat.It was the man who hit our dog.He was going Cecil,Cecil I need ya....Grandpa said here hold my cigarette,and stay right here.Be right back...he walks up to the man,and drills him in the jaw knocking him out cold.He got back in the truck,and I gave him his cigarette back.He says see John what goes around comes around as we drove off leaving the guy in the ditch.LOL!!.....one day when I was 12 Grandpa came in the house with an acoustic guitar hed just bought for me.I was born hard of hearing so I struggled with music.I told him anyway I aint playing that....Im gonna spend all my time playing basketball to make it to the Pros....He said,thats fine but dont let your hearing loss stop you from picking on a guitar,besides I got a feeling music is gonna be a part of your life......he passed away about 5 years later,and I never did anything with music.One day I realized since I could never hear most the words in all the songs,I had the ability to make up my own words.So as i started strumming the guitar,and writing and that led me to hook up with some amazing musicians recording an album of songs that I wrote down....I sit here thinking on his birthday that it was him who gave me my never give up attitude.and,that I could be anything I wanted to be if I gave it all I had.Only you can defeat you!!Thanks buddy,Ill see you again someday.Until then Happy Birthday.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 06:47:33 +0000
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