Today, June 21, is the longest day of the year. Always has been.

Today, June 21, is the longest day of the year. Always has been. Matter of fact, there's an hour of eastern-time-zone sunlight left as I post this.

It's also my maternal Grandfather's birthday. His 100th. Roland Chester Jones would have lived to be 100 today had he not been LITERALLY the oldest person on the planet Earth to succumb to the effects of mesothelioma at the ripe old age of 96 and 11 months barely three years ago.

He worked in the Mobile shipyards during WWII and then Birmingham's US Steel for the entirety of his post-war working career, retiring a few years after I was born in 1972. He had a wonderful, fantastic, rich life with my Grandmother, his friends, his church and his community.

A couple of years or so before he passed away, my mother thought it would be a great idea for all his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren to convey what they loved most about him or remembered most fondly about him. She collected all of our stories and had them printed into a keepsake book. That book was given to him on his birthday 5 years ago, and this is what I wrote for the book...

I've always thought of my Granddaddy as the "rock" of our family.

Throughout my life, he's always given me a sense of peace, safety and happiness whenever he's around. Even as a kid when we would go to our grandparents' house for Sunday lunch after church, just walking through their front door and hearing his two-toned whistle-greeting made me feel like the happiest person in the world.

I remember sitting in church next to my Grandmother once when I was very young and had just approached that age when I'd started to notice more and more things around me. On that particular morning, I looked up at the pulpit and noticed my Grandfather standing there. Who knows how long he'd been there reading a devotional, making announcements or parlaying some statistical outcome of attendance or church finance, but all I knew was that that was a very, very odd place for me to see someone who looked like my Grandfather. In the next instance, I realized this person who looked and sounded like my Grandfather was in fact one and the same person. Then a split second later, I realized everyone in the church was paying attention to what he was saying, and I thought, wow, look at my Grandaddy go. "HEY GRANDADDY!!!" I couldn't help myself. I was so proud of him standing up there looking and sounding so important that I wanted everyone around me to know that THAT was MY Grandaddy! Of course, everyone in the church got a good chuckle at my outburst, including my Grandaddy.

But from that point forward, I saw my grandfather in a totally different light. I realized he was someone who people listened to. He commanded respect. He had a kind, peaceful yet powerful personality, and still does today. I realized on that particular Sunday morning, I wanted to be like him one day.

One of the things I will always cherish about my grandfather is his unwavering love, devotion and caring for my Grandmother for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. I am fascinated by how his love of his family and his enjoyment and appreciation for the world around him has allowed him to carry on and live his life beyond my grandmother's passing, accepting that the will of God is not to be questioned or resisted, rather it is to be heeded, respected, endured and made a part of us in such a way that, in so following it, allows us shine and light the way for others.

I'm sure my grandfather has been a lamp to many feet and a light unto many paths. I'm so proud to call him my Grandaddy, and I still want to grow up and be just like him some day.

Happy birthday, Grandaddy.