My great-grandfather’s name was Glen Suffel. He was the wonderful husband to Betty Miller Suffel for more than 60 years. He was also the father of five children, the grandfather to a dozen, and the great-grandfather to a baker’s dozen. Any man can be a father, but grandpa was a dad. His mother, Alma, was a music teacher at Montpelier high school where grandpa graduated. As you can imagine he was very involved with music. He played piano. He used to tell me about how his mother made him practice an hour every night. When I started playing the piano he taught me how to play the C scale.

My grandfather’s musical talents brought him to Ohio State University where he played a trumpet in the O.S.U marching band. Unfortunately, he returned only a year later because his mother was sick. What better way to prove your love for your family? My grandmother always said that grandpa didn’t have to say “I love you” because you always just knew. As far as I can say this was the truth.

Perhaps the most memorable thing about my great-grandfather is the way he signed my birthday cards. The front of the envelope always had a variation of my name in orange pen. I say a variation because my grandfather never learned how to spell my name correctly. He always spelled it in two pieces; Kay-Lee. I don’t know why he spelled it that way. All I do know is that I don’t mind when he writes it that way. Inside the envelope would be a homemade birthday card made by my great grandma and signed by great-grandfather. These precious birthday cards were never signed with a name. They were signed with a common quote used by my grandfather; “Have a good one!” I don’t know why grandpa signed his cards that way. I don’t know who started that tradition. I do know however, how powerful, noteworthy, and significant this quote is to me. Not only was this the way he signed everything, “Have a good one!” is the last thing I said to him before he died last Valentine’s Day.

I had never been to a funeral before. It was possibly the most upsetting day of my life. Yes, it was even more melancholy than the moment I was told I needed a pacemaker and even more bittersweet than the moment I learned that my best friend was moving to Illinois. Despite these hard feelings of sadness I got over it quickly. Why, you might ask. Well, Grandpa and I, we don’t say goodbye. We say “Have a good one!” We know we will see each other again. For now, I’ll just be thankful that I have that little voice in my head that tells me when I’m about to do something wrong and that I have our little saying engraved in my class ring.

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Have a good one!