Profile #1: Earl Johnson, Grandfather

Name: Earl Johnson
Age: Grandpa-age
Home: Orting, WA
Relationship to me: My grandfather on my mom's side.






Fun Facts about Grandpa Earl:

• He worked as a commercial fisherman.

• He is left-handed, but went to a Catholic school as a child and they taught him that left-handedness was Satanic. So they made him write with his right hand. Now he is right-handed.

• I call him Early Bird sometimes.

• Early Bird does not think that students should use calculators. When I was in high school, I was taking Advanced Placement Calculus and I was doing my homework on the kitchen table. As I was taking an fractional equation to the fourth derivitive and graphing it, my wise grandfather snatched my calculator away and told me, "School's gotten to easy these days. You know, Nicole, when I was in school we didn't have these little machines. You had to use your BRAIN." Thanks Grandpa. I had to do the remainder of my homework without a calculator (which, by the way, is impossible. After he went home, I took the calculator back and finished my homework.)

• He looks very cute in Irish hats.

• He sometimes makes offensive comments about drunk drivers. Not offensive TO the drunk drivers, mind you, but offensive to society. Things like, "Some people drive better drunk because they are more careful."

• One of my favorite pictures ever taken is with him. He's throwing me up in the air when I was like two. I don't remember this, but I look very joyful in the pictures.

• He was locked in a closet for "a long time" as a child and when he came out, he had lost the ability to speak. At his school, Sister Laureen (one of the nun teachers) taught him to talk again and he named my mom after her.

• He was quite the hottie as a young man. I've seen pictures. Yeah, Grandpa.

• He likes the Cougars.

• He goes to Alaska every year and used to bring me back presents. He doesn't so much bring me presents anymore. What's the deal, Grandpa?

• His mother's name was DeMay. I have one of her piano books with Christmas songs in it. I think about her when I use it at Christmastime.

• He has donated a lot of blood in his life. I know because the blood bank he goes to always gave him fuzzy-ball people with sticky feet that said "I Donated Blood" and he would give them to me.

Early Bird is a fantastic grandfather. He always came to my dance recitals and I know they were super boring. Thanks, Grandpa. I love you.