Grateful

"Especially my lovely grandson Dominic, I could have never asked for a better grandson than him." said Ernest as he smiled at Dom who smiled at him.

"Ever since he was young, he was different, very obedient, loving and caring to all those around him, and I loved that about him, he cared for everyone, always and he never grew out of it." said Ernest.

"As much as he cared for people, he also knew when it was time to take charge and he could easily get everyone to cooperate with him. He had leadership skills that took me and his father years to develop at a young age." said Ernest.

"Believe you me, I am not flattering him at all, just ask the three of them, they all grew up together and whenever they were all about to get in trouble for being really noisy, he would get them all to behave and become quiet in a matter of seconds, by the time you walked into the room they were all seated silently like four angels, meanwhile they were not, far from it." said Ernest as everyone laughed.

"Especially Charlie over here." added Ernest as Charlie laughed louder than everyone, he had to admit, he was wild as a child.

"But, Dominic would always get them to behave, he had the spirit of the leader and they all acknowledged him as the leader. If you ask any of them who they respect most, it would be Dominic." said Ernest.

"If I am being honest, I wish that I could have been as obedient as he was. Because he was so obedient and he listened a lot, it was easy to give him the things that he asked for. He is the perfect grandson, although he has some flaws as we all do, he is a perfect grandson and that is why when the time came, I knew that there was no one as qualified and as capable as he was to run the company." said Ernest.

"And my Lulu, my lovely Lulu, my favourite granddaughter, the apple of my eye. You know that every time I look at you I see your grandmother and her lovely, wonderful characters inside you." said Ernest as he looked at Lulu and smiled.

"Even though you were very little when she died, I know that you have really fond memories your time with her and the cookies she used to make and the songs she used to sing." said Ernest as Lulu smiled and nodded, her eyes welling up with tears that she did not want to shed right now.

"You did a wonderful job organizing this event, it is wonderful, everyone please give a round of applause for my wonderful, hard working granddaughter." said Ernest as everyone clapped and Lulu shied away feeling really overwhelmed but at the same time proud of herself.

"I love you a lot my lovely girl." said Ernest as he smiled.

"I love you too grandfather." said Lulu as she smiled and Ernest smiled and everyone smiled.

"One of the benefits of having lovely grandchildren is that when they finally grow up and start living their own lives, they meet lovely people as well and get married, which brings me to my wonderful, one of a kind granddaughter in law." said Ernest as he looked at Natasha who smiled.

"My granddaughter in law is a wonderful, independent, strong, beautiful woman. She is a great support not only to my grandson, but to the entire family as well. I could not imagine this family without her, she makes us complete and she is a great example to us all." said Ernest as he smiled and Natasha smiled hearing his kind words.

"So all you ladies that will be going after these three, you have big shoes to fit seeing as the first granddaughter in law has left you big shoes to fill." said Ernest as everyone laughed.

"Above all, she is a wonderful mother and she granted me the joy of being able to be alive to see my great granddaughter, can you imagine, I have seen my two generations, isn't that wonderful?" asked Ernest as everyone laughed.

"I really appreciate and admire you Natasha, I love having you as a part of the family." said Ernest as he looked at her and smiled.

"And I love being a part of this family." she replied with a smile.

"And last but not least, I can never forget the littlest member of our family, my lovely great granddaughter Joy. You know, she really does live up to her name, she is a bundle of joy." said Ernest as he smiled.

"If you are feeling down, all you need to do is to get her to walk into the room and everything will light up." said Ernest a she smiled and Joy who was bored had been playing with her dress suddenly heard her name being called and she looked up confused.

"Children are just so wonderful, and at my age, it's nice to see a bit of youth." said Ernest as he laughed and everyone laughed as well.

"My great granddaughter is really lovely. I remember when she first started speaking, she was really confused as to what to call me. You see, she had a daddy and a mommy, she had several uncles and aunts, she had a grandmother and a grandfather, so when I used to play with her, she would be confused as to who I was." said Ernest.

"We explained to her that I was her great grandfather, the father of her own grandfather, but calling me, great grandfather was a mouthful for a two year old to say, so we tried to come up with something simpler for her to address me by." said Ernest.

"Then one day, she was watching tv and I came into the room and she got up, waddled to me and shouted 'grandpappy!'. I guess that she got tired of feeling confused so she made up a name to call me by herself." said Ernest while laughing as everyone joined in.

"So yes, my great granddaughter is really intelligent, she is sweet and very lovely." said Ernest as he smiled and Joy smiled and waved at him as he waved back eliciting sounds of awws in the crowd.

"So thank you for listening to my old man talk about my family. Thank you for allowing me share the great love that I have for them. I love my family, I don't know where I would be without them and I cherish every single moment that we have together. Today is perfect, this moment is perfect, the only thing I regret is that my lovely Mary had to leave us too soon, she did not get to see all the wonders and how big our family has grown." said Ernest as he smiled and a lone tear slipped from his eye.

"Thank you all, over to you Dominic." said Ernest as he moved aside and gave way to Dom as the people clapped for him.

"Thank you grandfather for your wonderful words, and we all love you." said Dom as he smiled.

"I just want to say once again, on the behalf of my family and the entire company, thank you all for being here." said Dom as he smiled.

"It is truly an honour to be part of a growing legacy. Believe me when I say that I am very grateful for the family I have, and I am grateful to have loyal working staff like you our cherished employees." said Dom.

"I am happy to have been trusted so much by both my grandfather and my father, and thank you all for growing with me and learning with me in these eleven years that I have been CEO. I could not have done it without all of your guidance and support." said Dom.

"I am certainly looking forward to what we will have and accomplish in the future and I am certainly ready to continue the cycle of this legacy. My grandfather passed this company over to my father, and he passed it down to me and I am ready to pass it down to my own children as well and they will do the same to their children." said Dom as he smiled and looked at Joy who giggled.

"So once again I just want to say thank you to all our family, to all our dear friends, our wonderful employees and loyal shareholders, and to all our esteemed guests for being here to celebrate with us." said Dom.

"I am sure that by now you are tired of all our really long talking, so thank you once more and I hope that you enjoy this event and have a good night." said Dom as he concluded and smiled and an applause rang out.

This was their cue to leave the stage as the live band carried on with their music and the reporters continued to take pictures as their cameras flashed.