Grandfather

If my grandfather still was alive, he would have been 103 today. Imagine that! He died 12 years ago.

He lived in the same house as me and my parents, upstairs from us.
As a kid, whenever something scared me I would run upstairs, and he would play a game of cards with me, while I calmed down.
When I stepped into his kitchen, the first thing I smelled was tobacco. He used to smoke the pipe, using a tobacco that was whiskey-flavoured. Behind the tobacco, I could smell bacon and eggs, something he made for himself every day. He also always had chocolate in the kitchen cupboard. I'm pretty sure that made me visit him more often.

He was a blacksmith, and worked until he was 90. I have a lamp, beautifully wrought in black iron, that he made for me.

Wherever you are, grandpa, I hope you're having a good time.