Grandparents part II

I insist that I have a memory of my maternal grandfather who died the day before my first birthday. No one believes me. They say it is impossible to remember anything at that age. They're wrong.

My memory is of me in my mother’s arms, and we are standing on my grandparent’s porch. My grandfather reaches his arm out the kitchen door, grabs for my nose, and does the old "I got your nose trick". I didn't see the humor in the trick. I swear I can see it in my mind as if it happened yesterday.

My grandfather was 100% Swedish and, by trade, a house builder and mason. The stoneworker mason, not the secret society mason. He could pick up a rock, roll it around a little to study it, and with a swift tap of a hammer in just the right spot, split it clean in half. He built each of his children a house, most of my neighbors houses, along with many others spread throughout the town. He was especially well known for his fireplaces.

I now live in the house that he built for his family. Every year when I wander around the property I find all kinds of items that belonged to him - sharpening stones for his garden tools, old cement trowels, moss covered decorative bricks and blocks. In one of my flowerbeds I have accumulated a little pile of these items. My own little tribute to him I guess.

He was 57 years old when he died of a heart attack. According to my grandmother’s diary entry for that day, he thought it was just heartburn.

Every year, as I plant flowers on his grave, I ask him questions that, so far, he has not answered:

Why did you always cover your beautiful hardwood floors with carpeting?
Where did you get those gorgeous chunks of glass that you incorporated into y(our) fireplace?
Did you really squirrel away lots of money and hide it somewhere in the house like Grandma always claimed? If so where, because I think I have checked everywhere now.
Where did you bury your old copper still after grandma found out about it?

I hope that one day I will find out the answers. It would be nice to find out about the money now though.