{Thank You for 50 Years of Service!}

Had my grandpa lived to see 2015, his shop, Myers Zephyr Service, would have been 50 years old on the second of October. Had he lived to see 2015, he would have seen over 100 people congregating at this small home away from home shop on the third of October to celebrate his service. Had he been here he would have seen a clean shop, painted light blue like it was when he purchased it in 1965.

 It had fallen in disrepair over the years and constant work. Paint was peeling, a couple windows were broken. The outside drive was covered in mowers that would go unsold. The sign was rusted. It was falling apart from the look of it. But the man in this shop, he kept it alive.

In 2014 (when in reality he should have been resting and attempting to get better) he began painting the outside of this shop with my grandma and my great-aunt. I know he was glad to be getting it done. The reason behind why he was doing it, was far from his 50th year celebration though. I won't get into that.

After he passed, my aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandma set to work on restoring the inside the shop to get it ready for the 50th year celebration. They painted it the light blue that it was when he first bought it, cleaned, and even finished up some dry wall projects that had gone unfinished for several years. I chipped in one day but I got in a fight with two paint rollers so I gave up lol.

 The candy case in the office. My grandma filled it with pictures and memorabilia of him. She put fairy lights in also to help light it up. You can see the picture of Gaige front and center on the counter. There are pictures of the great grandkids on the cash register. 

 The party was a good time. But emotional for those that loved him most, the four of us. Well, at least for me. I don't know about my brothers and sister. Being there without him was rough. I had personally rarely been in the shop without my grandpa being there. It was hard.

Everyone showed up to see the finished product and to tell stories about my grandpa and about the shop. The guy that bought his fire truck was there too. He took the great-grandkids on a ride. My cousins and siblings and I had ridden on this truck several times over the years. It had been in many many parades. It was amazing to get to see it running again after seeing it sit in their large storage shed for so many years.

 My younger brother and the great-grand kids.

He would have loved all the people enjoying his shop. He would have loved to reminisce with everyone. He would have been proud of it I think. Although it was so hard for us to see it being changed. And trust me, my sister and I had a really hard time. He would have loved to watch everyone enjoy it.

 My aunt made shirts that people could buy to take a small piece of the celebration home with them.

 

On the subject of the shirts, I made my own as well. I thought that maybe the four of us needed to be separate. We were more that family, he were more than a customer, we were his children. He raised us. So I had a good friend make his logo for the front, and between my brother and I we designed the back of the shirt. I think they turned out amazingly well. Had it not been so damn cold that day maybe we could have gotten a picture of us all in them together. Maybe another day.

So there we have it. People came, had donuts and coffee, and enjoyed the shop.

Thanks to anyone reading this that came.