“Did you ever know that you’re my hero? You’re everything I would like to be! I can fly higher than an eagle, cause you are the wind beneath my wings!”
Eddie & Gerald Levert’s remake of this classic was perfect and timely when released back in the 90’s and my grandpa immediately came to mind! He is absolutely the wind beneath my wings!
George Thomas Phillips was one of a kind; he was a man of great faith, the love of my grandmother’s life, our family’s source of strength, an incredible role model for his two sons, an American hero- a 💜 recipient, and my first love!
Being a witness to how my grandpa loved my grandmother and his family taught me very early what I wanted in a husband. He was a protector, a provider, a seeker of information and just a real man! He was passionate but quiet, loving but headstrong. I remember times when my grandmother would nag and nag him and I’d be sitting back waiting for her to finally hit that one nerve that only she could and oh boy, when she did and he finally reacted, she would fall back really quick and I would be so tickled.
My grandpa suffered the loss of his right hand and half his arm in the Korean war, when he returned home he went through therapy where he learned to not only make his left hand/arm his dominant but he also learned to do things with the use of one arm/hand. To watch him do simple things like tie his shoes was amazing! He never wanted to be considered handicap or inadequate and worked hard to do as many things for himself as he could without ever complaining. I learned so much about inner strength and discipline from him.
When their church asked for men to come dig up soil to begin their nursery, he was right there with his shovel working along side the other men to their astonishment. He also sang in the choir and drove the van for the church to pick up others, he was just incredible!
He loved me so fiercely I knew the man I married would have to possess that same kind of love for me which can only be attributed to God’s love! We had a connection so deep that even in another state if something was wrong with him, I could sense it and I would then call and later as I got older, pop up down to N.C. to see about my favorite guy.
I was my grandpa’s “Red” and he would stop at nothing to make me smile. When I was a child he use to drive the 300+ miles to pick me up at the beginning of the summer and turn around the same day and drive back home and make that trip again at the end of the summer to return me to Va. During the summers we would spend time watching the news, gardening, worshipping and our favorite; eating! My grandma loved to show out in the kitchen when I was there.. lol
A meal was not complete unless he scooted back from the table, rubbed his belly and commented “sho’ was good”– I lived for those moments.
Another of my favorite times with him would be when we would get home from church and he would tell me how pretty I looked and I would swirl for him! I still think of him on Sunday mornings and think if he was still here, he would still be complementing me as only a grandpa can!
The last visit I had with him in October 2012, I knew would be the final time I saw him alive and I remember sitting in a chair across the room from him and just watching him for hours and he kept asking me what was going on and I just kept watching him, storing every detail about him into my memory.
My dad had told me that he wasn’t eating, so I had brought some soup with me out my freezer that I had been saving that my grandma had made for me before she passed away.
On this particular day, he wouldn’t eat anything for me which was odd, usually I could get him to eat something so I had my mom heat up the soup. When he ate the first spoonful, immediately his eyes widened with recognition, he asked me did I make the soup, I replied “no”, he asked if my mom made it, again “no.” He said ” it tastes just like my wife use to make” 😥
He proceeded to eat the rest of his soup and shortly after I left to return home so he could go get treated at the hospital since he refused to go while I was there, that was his last meal, he passed away the next day! 💔
As I think back over my life and our times together, I could not be prouder of the man he was or the legacy he left behind! I’m everything I am…because you loved me!
Happy Birthday in heaven my love❣