Dear Ursinus Family,
My grandpa, who I refer to as Papa, epitomizes everything a grandparent should be: supportive, loving, reliable, witty, and wise. He never deprives me of his affection, and for that, I am eternally grateful.
He has borne an incredible amount of loss and sadness that plagues his heart daily, but you would never know it, given his kindness and generous demeanor. In fact, he has every right to feel cheated yet refuses to let bitterness prevail.
Besides embodying the qualities cited above, he takes the cake as the hardest-working person I know. Papa is a respected Navy veteran and made a name for himself, working as a mechanic for top Fortune 500 companies like Merck and Revlon.
He has since retired from such an accomplished career and yet, is still kicking. He has most of his faculties, digs a sporadic dirty joke, and is a chick magnet. But considering his mega success, impeccable credentials, and zest for life, outsiders readily assume that he is lucky. But I beg to differ, and instead, I like to think his luck is attributed to hard work.
Even in my short twenty-two years, I have been awarded a plethora of opportunities, and I admit that. But like Papa, I’ve been called lucky a time or twenty, but I rest assured knowing that I would not have landed fantastic gigs without my qualifications, and they are a result of my grind.
I may work hard professionally, but if there is anyone who is lucky, at least, in the family department, it’s most certainly me, that I’m able to call such a successful, loving man my papa. As the saying goes, the harder you work, the luckier you get, and Papa has proved that to be true not only on St. Patrick’s Day but every day.
Yours truly,
Layla
Layla M. Halterman lahalterman@ursinus.edu