Welcome back to Part 8 of the Grandpa’s Glass series.

In case you are new to this series of blog posts, I am sharing some stories behind the photos of my Grandpa’s Glass project. If you missed any of those posts, they are linked below. But, today, I want to share the story of how passing the pepper became a part of Grandpa’s story.

Pass the Pepper, Please

Nearly every meal I can remember sharing with my maternal grandfather, he would say, “Pepper ’ll make you pretty…”, as he was passing the salt and pepper your way.

I never really understood if it was a statement of fact, a suggested beauty tip for me, or, perhaps, just one of his sayings.

He had a LOT of sayings. He also had nicknames for everyone. They were not mean-spirited nicknames, but nicknames that distilled the person down to something meaningful to him and that person. Grandpa’s nickname for me was “Sad Eyes”. So, I think you can see my dilemma in understanding his “pepper will make you pretty” statement.

Symbolism

Pepper is sometimes considered a symbol of what you are missing in life… Did he somehow see my introverted nature very early in my life and give me some veiled guidance knowing he would not be around for my adulthood? Or, was this just a cleaver iteration? I am quite sure he said this to everyone, but, somehow, I always felt he was saying this to me.

How His Voice Lingers

Whatever story the pepper holds, I am reminded of it this morning, the first morning of a new year, as I scramble up some eggs with - what else; a healthy dose of pepper.

It is a beautiful morning and I have the kitchen door open as a sign of gratitude, appreciation, and to make sure the previous year is ushered out along with any misplaced baggage. As I look forward to a new year ahead, I am adding a generous dose of pepper to make the year ahead pretty. Thanks Grandpa.

I hope you will come back next Wednesday when I share another story from this series of images. If you are enjoying these behind-the-scene stories, please consider becoming one of the “Insiders”. You can sign up below and receive a copy of “The Stories Behind 7 of My Favorite Images” .

As always, thank you for joining me on this adventure.