Today is an extra special day, because one of my favorite people in the whole wide world – my grandpa Carl, turns 95 years old!
If you know me well, you know that grandpa Carl is a very important person in my life – we’re good buddies, and I’m lucky that he moved back to Chicago a few years ago to live in the suburbs where I’m able to see him pretty often. In his 95 years on this planet, he’s lived a pretty incredible life, and I’ve learned a lot about work, life and everything in between from him over the years.
I could share millions of stories on why grandpa Carl is the best (he really is!!!), but here are 5 lessons that he taught me over the years, in celebration of his 95th birthday.
1) If you love your work, you’ll never work a day in your life:
I know that this is a total cliche, and something I usually don’t believe when people say it – but for my grandpa, he really, genuinely loved his job so much that he didn’t feel like it was actual work. I’ll ask him if he ever had a bad day at work – and he says he never remembers a time he didn’t love his job. And his career is pretty impressive too. After serving in WWII, he came back to Illinois to move to Chicago and be an intern at an agency and worked in the mail room, learning the ropes (and also all the business from around the agency from reading the mail!), and eventually worked his way all the way up to an international vice president of account at FCB on Johnson Wax (which is now SC Johnson). He loved every minute of it, and inspired me to pursue a job in advertising too. Now I try to take the same mentality he had around work to my job every day (even though I am happy to admit I have some less than stellar days from time to time :))
2) Always find a way to travel:
My grandpa is a big proponent of traveling, and many of my early memories are going on vacations with my parents and grandpa – whether it was our yearly trip to Captiva Island Florida (where my family had been going since the early 60’s), or traveling to central Mexico and exploring local markets, trying fried grasshoppers, and discovering local artists around the city. My grandpa made it a priority for our family to go on a trip together every year, and it definitely shaped my childhood being able to travel and experience other cultures.
When my grandpa was around my age, he quit his job for a year and pitched a story to Sports Illustrated where he wrote an article about living in an RV and traveling around Europe with his young family. He had a 2 and 6 year old at the time, but he didn’t let that stop him from taking a year long adventure traveling to Portugal, Spain, Germany, and literally almost every country in Europe. I would have probably lost my mind with little kids in tow, but somehow he made living in a tiny RV with four people work, and made sure to make it an adventure. It’s been fun seeing some of the highlights through an old school slide show and seeing what the world looked like in the late 50’s/60’s. I’ve always wanted to live abroad for a year or two, and his blind ambition to do it himself gives me the confidence to do it someday too.
3) Walk every day:
I often ask my grandpa what his secret to living a long life is – and while he has pretty incredible genes (his older brother just celebrated his 99th birthday earlier this year!) his other tip is walking…everywhere. Even at 95, he goes out every day he can to walk around his neighborhood parks, around town, etc. and he usually logs almost 10K steps a day (and puts my pedometer to shame!). So note to self, walk more and (hopefully) live for a very long time 🙂
4) You’re never to old to learn something new:
My grandpa is still super active, which has kept him incredibly sharp over the years. And during the pandemic, I was really worried he was going to be bored being stuck at home so much. But because my grandpa doesn’t let anything keep him down, he used this time the way we all intended to use it – by learning new things. While the rest of us failed (no, I didn’t brush up my Spanish and still feel bad about it…), he spent the time writing stories from his life over the years, learning piano and writing original songs, and figuring out how to Zoom with friends. He accomplished much more than I did in quarantine for sure – even at 94 years old, and it made me even more impressed with his ability to learn new things – all while showing off his creativity!
5) Kindness is the best legacy:
My grandpa has a lot of amazing qualities – he’s endlessly curious, smart, generous…(I could go on and on), but his kindness is really my favorite quality about him. He’s always incredibly thoughtful (write the best cards!), and goes out of his way to make sure everyone he loves is doing okay. Last year he had gifted me this beautiful Amaryllis, which he took care of while I was in Portugal last year, and when I came back I had been having a really crappy time personally. My grandpa drove from the suburbs to the city without telling me, and arrived with the (very well taken care of) Amaryllis and a big hug, which I really needed at the time. It was a little, thoughtful gesture but meant the world – and he’s full of those little things that make everyone in his family feel loved. He’s the best 🙂
Anyway, I could go on and on and on about why Grandpa Carl is #1 – and I can’t wait to celebrate him turning 95 sometime soon (silly COVID). Happy birthday, Grandpa! You’re the best and we’re lucky to have you in our lives <3
