"A smile improves your face value"

Last week I was listening/watching ABC's Good Morning America and there was this amazing 89 year old man named Paul Camyre from Palmer Massachusetts that caught my attention. Robin Roberts had interviewed him last week and he was telling his story about he could not afford to pay his oil and tax bill. I missed that particular story, but the follow up to this story was how the world heard him and reached out to help a man in need. The follow up story was titled "outpouring support for whistle-stop Grandpa. I was overwhelmed with emotion as I sat there listening to him talk about his wife who died from emphysema in 1994 and how they raised their four children, it truly was a love story. As he sat there and trembled from apparently Parkinson's disease, he touched my heart. He could not afford to pay his oil and tax bill, but Robin Robert's said to him " You always seem to have a smile on your face even when most people would be frowning" and Mr. Camyre replied " A smile improves you face value". Wow... that is the truth. If only more people could smile and be happy this world would be a much happier place to live in. Listening to this fragile man who had worked so hard all of his life to give his family everything they need reminded me of my Grandfather.
My Grandfather lived with us all of my life that I can remember and we took care of him. He was 89 when he died in December 1995 from congestive heart failure and I was the luckiest girl to have a "Grandpa" like him. He took care of my family in his younger years, and we took care of him in his later years. My parents did a great job raising us don't get me wrong, but my memories are of my Dad, Mom, and my Grandpa. He was so proud of all three of his grandchildren and gave us everything we needed, not wanted. Quite often I wish that I could go back and have that one last conversation with him and tell him how much I love him and appreciate all that he did for me. I wish that he were here to see what I have accomplished in life and meet my wonderful husband and children, he would be so proud. I know that he is smiling down on me everyday and that gives me relief.Time is to short and everything happens for a reason. If you are lucky enough to have your grandparents hug them and tell them that you love them everyday. Ask if there is anything that you can do for them because just like Mr. Camyre my grandfather was a very proud man and would not ask for anything from anyone. Remember "a smile improves your face value".