Young Chet

My maternal grandfather loved telling a good story.  Chet Wiater commanded a chair at the table at my grandparent's house where he would proceed to expound on anything and everything. There wasn't a topic that he couldn't say anything about...even if he didn't know anything about it.  We sometimes questioned the accuracy of his statements, especially in the later years, but he was not to be deterred. His opinion was the definitive fact on any matter...at least in his opinion.

Unfortunately he passed away well before his two great grandchildren came into the world. So imagine my surprise one day, as I was driving the kids home from daycare that then four year old Teddy launched into a full back story about one of the farms near our house.  "They used to have cows here and the cows would cross the road..."  I almost stopped the car right there in the middle of the street..."grandpa?"

And the nickname "Young Chet" was born.

In the two years since then we've heard stories and opinions about all kinds of things, usually spoken while waving his hand around to show that he is serious about the point he is trying to make.  Everything you buy on TV is junk. The clouds are all heading to the ocean (our recent car conversation...his favorite place to expound is in the car).

My parents got a run down last summer on what all of the boats in Virginia Beach were up to.  My cousin's daughter Hannah received the sage advice last winter to "not eat the yellow snow".  I've never told him that but my grandpa sure said it to me a few times growing up.

In general the kid has a story and an opinion about anything and everything and he's not shy about launching into it at a moment's notice...sound familiar?  But you really have to see it to understand it.  It's hard to catch him in the act because so many of the real gems happen in the car. So last Thursday night I grabbed my phone and asked him to tell me some things so I could post it on the blog. His response? "Oh, there's lots of things I could tell you about." Of course there is. This one happened when I asked him to recap the everything you buy on TV is junk conversation. For those not in the know, I can specifically remember my grandpa talking about how the "buy one get one stuff on TV is a ripoff." But Teddy...er...Young Chet has never come out with these specific details before.  So without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: Young Chet.