{"id":22511,"date":"2025-06-25T00:32:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T06:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=22511"},"modified":"2025-06-23T14:33:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T20:33:33","slug":"grandpas-angel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/25\/grandpas-angel\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandpa\u2019s Angel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bryce Angell – The outdoors has always been a large part of my life. My father was an outfitter and guide for 35 years and I was there to shoe and care for the horses and help him do the cooking. We took many great trips into the Yellowstone area. Even now that I\u2019m older, we still ride into the Tetons, Yellowstone and surrounding areas. My poems are mostly of personal experience. I am now retired and enjoying life to the fullest. I plan to do more riding and writing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDo you believe in angels?\u201d my grandpa once asked me. I told him that my mother was as close as one could be.
\nI was only ten and didn\u2019t know what Grandpa knew. But I hoped there were some angels, maybe Grandpa knew a few.
\nMy grandpa\u2019s eyes shone bright as stars. His thoughts were days of old. I was \u2018bout to hear a story, one that he had never told.
\nGrandpa said he\u2019d seen an angel many years ago and made a promise to himself, he\u2019d be that angel\u2019s beau.
\nI wasn\u2019t sure just what he meant. \u201cYou knew she\u2019d be your wife? I\u2019m never getting married. Don\u2019t need women in my life.
\n\u201cAnd girls don\u2019t look like angels. They don\u2019t have wings to fly. The thought of having girlfriends? Yuk! I guess I\u2019d rather die.\u201d
\nGrandpa said, \u201cIt\u2019s only natural for a boy to feel this way. Do you think that girls are sissies and just have paper dolls for play?\u201d
\nThen he said, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, boy. Your angel will appear. By then you\u2019ll see it my way and you won\u2019t have boyish fear.\u201d
\nI listened so intently as my grandpa spoke to me, \u2018cuz I felt a little leery \u2018bout this angel I would see.
\nGrandpa\u2019s voice got quiet. \u201cShe\u2019ll take you by surprise. You prob\u2019ly won\u2019t know what to say and won\u2019t believe your eyes.
\n\u201cThe first time that she smiles at you, you\u2019ll know just what I mean. For sure she\u2019ll be your angel. The one you\u2019ve not foreseen.\u201d
\nThen grandpa said, \u201cMy angel is the best part of my life. She\u2019s been with me for sixty years and never caused me strife.\u201d
\nWith a twinkle in his eye, he said, \u201cThroughout these many years, I could snuggle up to Grandma, and she never boxed my ears.\u201d
\nGrandpa\u2019s story ended and he wandered off a bit. He clasped my grandma\u2019s hand and found a place for them to sit.
\nI loved it when I saw my grandpa hold my grandma\u2019s hand. It taught me \u2018bout two peoples\u2019 love. It helped me understand.
\nAnd when I saw my angel, I knew I\u2019d be her beau. But Grandpa got it wrong \u2018cuz when she smiled, I said, \u201cHello!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Bryce Angell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDo you believe in angels?\u201d my grandpa once asked me. I told him that my mother was as close as one could be. I was only ten and didn\u2019t know what Grandpa knew. But I hoped there were some angels, maybe Grandpa knew a few. My grandpa\u2019s eyes shone bright as stars. His thoughts were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-cowboy-poetry","7":"category-commentary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22512,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22511\/revisions\/22512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}