Home away from home - Gma and Gpa were like second parents to me in my early years. I have just as many memories of being at my grandparents' house as I do of being at my own. I had a high chair in their kitchen and a crib in their spare room when I was a baby/toddler. As I grew I switched to a regular bed. When I woke early in the mornings, I would usually crawl into Gma's bed, but sometimes, if I was feeling especially daring, I would crawl in with Gpa. I was always in awe of him. He was big and imposing. And he had those bushy eyebrows and beady little eyes that knew just how to glare intimidatingly. This look was usually enough to put me in my place when I was becoming a nuisance. :) Ernie & Bert - I remember how he liked to laugh like Ernie from Sesame Street. I also remember the day I made the connection between his name being Ernie and his dad's being Bert. I thought Grandpa was so clever when I realized he had made that connection before me! Hairy Memories - My grandpa had great hair. Until recent years when he kept it shorter, he had always wore it a little longer and swept back, and it had the signature Collier-men wave on top. After they left Winnipeg when I was a child, I would fly out to spend a month with Gma and Gpa each summer at their house in Maple Ridge. During those times Gpa would, in a sly, old-style private-eye accent ask me "Hey kid. How would you like to earn two bits?" I always knew what that meant. He would sit in his brown, leather recliner, and while he read the paper, I would spray, comb, cut and style his hair. He even let me put rollers in! We have pictures to prove it. He would encourage me every so often with an "Ohhh, that feels good." One thing I remember about those times were how I loved the smell of his head. It wasn't good or bad, it was just Gpa, and whenever I smell that -- these days from my husband -- it takes me back in time. Most of all, I loved simply sharing something special with my grandpa. It became our annual tradition, and even though he got off cheap -- 2 bits for a rejuvenating spa treatment! -- I believe I got the better end of the deal...cherished memories with Grandpa. Stinky - When I was born, it didn't take long for Grandpa to choose a nickname for me. I would forever after be known as Stinky. It goes without saying that I did not always appreciate this pseudonym. I mean, he could have chosen something a little more dignified, something a little more, shall we say, feminine, like Baby Doll or Cupcake. But no, I was Stinky. In his defence, I was the first grandchild, and as such I brought with me the first poopy diaper experienced in over a decade. In true Grandpa fashion, when Grandchild #2 (Sara) came along, so did a sensible nickname...Stinky #2. I'm not sure how committed he was to her nickname, however. And by the time Grandchild #3 (Erin) arrived, he may have laid the Stinky legacy to rest. She probably got called Blue Eyes or something equally enchanting. ;) Don't drop any hats! - Grandpa always made fun of us girls -- in particular my mom Maureen, myself, and my cousin Erin -- for being sensitive and for crying very easily. When Erin was little he would tease, "Don't anybody drop any hats!" Now, of course, I find that terribly ironic because tears and sentimentality are widely known as Collier trademarks! After Grandpa kicked cancer, he became especially soft and emotional. He changed a great deal. He was just so grateful to be alive and have more time with his family. He never lost that softness. I love me too - Apparently, most of his life, Grandpa was never one to say I love you. I guess he had an image to uphold. :) If I were to say, "I love you, Grandpa" he would respond with "Yeah...I love me too" and then follow up with his signature "Ernie" laugh. But I guess we broke him down eventually because over time he got more and more comfortable with those three little words. He told me he loved me at the end of every phone call, and sometimes even got a little choked up. I liked that. Hero - Once when I was a child, I went to a friend's house after school but lost track of time and didn't come home when I was supposed to. Grandma and Grandpa knew where I was and called there to have them send me home. As I rode my bike home, a much older boy, whom I had never met but was from the neighbourhood, stopped me with his own bike and tried to entice me into this large field of bushes nearby. I can only imagine what he had in mind. I was young but had enough sense not to follow him. Everything about him smelled of danger. He told me he was going to wait up ahead for me and would not let me pass unless I went with him. I stood there with my bike alone, crying and scared for several minutes, watching him circle around up ahead, until an older girl from my school biked up beside me and asked me what was wrong. I told her everything, she recognized the boy, and she said she would bike home with me. After my safe passage home, I tearfully explained to Grandma and Grandpa what had happened. I was half afraid Grandpa would yell at me for being late and blame me for what happened. He didn't. Instead, he growled in his Grandpa way, got into his car, and went in search of the boy. He found him, and though I'll never know what exactly he said, I know that he scared the skin off that kid. And in the process, Grandpa became my hero that day. "Hold on to your braziers, girls!" Enough said. :) - Diana McNeill, Winnipeg