I have so many beautiful memories of my grandfather who died a few years ago and it shocked us so much.
He was the shiny pebble in the sea,the twinkling star in the sky until he died. Then he was nothing.

During the holidays we went to visit him in Lebanon.

In the mornings when we were still asleep he went out and by the time we awoke he was back. He did this occasionally. Those mornings he'd bring home fruits; blood oranges, sour lemons, green bananas, fresh mango and best of all grapes. But they weren't proper grapes, they had still just grown and were extremely bitter.
Some days he walked through the door carrying greek yogurt and creamed yogurt, green olives with red chilli peppers, pitta bread, red tomatoes and new parsely.

The fresh ingredients of life.

He liked breakfast, lunch, dinner or any other meal to be perfect. He fixed everything and when he finally left us it was like the glue that had joined our family together had disappeared. We fell apart.

I think the reason why he liked things so perfect was because Lebanon was a country- despite it being very small where people are extremely proud of their plants and food. Their flag and mine has a tree on it because they are famous for it.
My grandfather's pride was a golden glow shining out of him.

I remember the day he taught me to swim. I had never learnt how to swim properly and as an eleven year old I felt pretty stupid. It wasn't because I was scared, I just couldn't float. My grandfather took my arms and I paddled endlessly with my feet. My stomach went tight because we weren't near the shallow shore anymore. Then he suddenly let go beaming at me. I felt strange because I was drifting on something that felt like nothing.
I was really proud of myself.

These are some of my favourite memories and I'll always remember them as great,enduring treasures.

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