Grandpa

He stood in front of the mirror, not necessarily admiring his reflection, but trying to make sure that he looked as presentable as possible.   He pulled at the tucked t-shirt so that it hung slightly over his waistband allowing a small sliver of his brown leather belt to show.  As he did this, he repeated to himself, “It’s so nice to meet you. My what a big girl you are!”  He shook his head in disapproval and continued to tuck at the shirt, this time a little more fervency. He had to make it perfect.  He pulled a few more times and then again looked up at his reflection.  His hair had slightly fallen out of place and he gently pushed his coif back into place.  He was lucky that even at his age and after all that he had been through he still had a good full head of hair.  Granted, it was salt and pepper, but it helped him seem distinguished.  Seem being the operative word here, he thought to himself.  He smiled at his reflection, both at the joke and at the fact that he sort of liked what he saw.  His face had weathered over the years but his skin was a lovely olive color.  His eyes crinkled in the corners but their piercing blue color seemed to overshadow any hints of aging that father time tried to throw his way.  He combed down his mustache one more time and then ran the palms of his hands down the front of his t-shirt.  “World’s Best Grandpa” he read out loud.  “Well, alright.  I’m a grandpa” he mused.   He looked over at the corner of the dresser at Cassie’s picture.  He picked up the frame and looked at her big, blue eyes.  She wore her hair in pig-tails and her gigantic grin showed a number of empty spaces where baby teeth once held residence.  She looked a lot like her father but to Mario he only saw his own daughter in his granddaughter’s face and he found himself easily falling back into a sea of memories of Nadia as a little girl.  He could hear her laughter and feel the warmth of her embrace.  Those first seven years of her life were by far the greatest but after age seven their lives started to unravel at the seams and Mario did little to help.   He lost his job and destroyed his marriage.  Over the course of the next ten years, he shut himself up in a drunken stupor, oblivious to the pain that he was causing and unaware of the distance he was creating between him  & his daughter.  Showing up to Nadia’s graduation with a pee-stained set of trousers and the smell of whiskey on his breath was the last straw for Nadia.  That was the last he saw of her.  But now, here was his chance.  To be a family again, and prove he was the “world’s greatest grandpa” like the shirt he bought said.