"D'unt Get Too Big Too Fest."

My grandfather was an immigrant and a businessman.

When I was still a child, he gave me this advice: "D'unt get too big too fest."
I ended up with an eating disorder!

Conscripted into the Russian army at age 17, Grandpa Sam killed an officer who attempted to abuse him, then he escaped to Poland, Germany, eventually England, and the USA in 1907.  A tree-trunk of a man, he once successfully lifted an 800-pound horse on a bet.

I adored him, and I have forgiven him.
How could he have known? 
Neuro-linguistic programming hadn't been discovered yet.
Parenting was still an uncoined word.
Grandpa Sam hadn't ever heard the phrase literal interpretation.
Besides, he taught me everything I know about working with wood,
and modeled remaining calm amid feisty family feuds,
and showed me how to whistle and blow smoke rings.

Here's to you, Grandpa Sam. Mwah!