Week of Love
Today this old man has been on my mind. Perhaps it’s the LOVE theme surrounding Valentine’s Day. He hated “Hallmark Holidays” but appreciated the calls and cards from his “Chirrun” (children) just the same. He would have enjoyed watching my girls diligently coloring their Valentine’s yesterday. He would have hung them on his credenza behind his desk with a straight pin and told anyone who’d listen that his GREAT-granddaughters sent them to him.
He asked me to help him write his memoirs about ten years ago. We didn’t get far- just some notes and a few precious tape recordings I need to transcribe. He never mastered the art of talking to a tape recorder. Every episode starts out with, “Ellen, I can’t get this DARN CONTRAPTION to do what I ask it to do.” But I have letters, notes, his Chirrun, and many, many images to get me through. I will write his stories down so that my Chirrun will know one of the most beloved people in my life. My oldest Valentine.
That’s the book I am writing in my head, on long bike rides, on my sunrise walks with Rosy. I am writing the stories of my three wonderful grandparents. I hope there will be some vignettes along the way. I need to sort through the blog my sister and I started about my grandmother and then abandoned- one more corner of the Internet gathering dust. I need to give my mom some time before I start extracting the tales of her Mother. They are just too fresh. But him, I am starting with him. With a picture, with a promise to finish what we started.
Amazing! I hope you DO write it all one day. I have been BEGGING my dad to write things for my son and the next generations. He’s only willing to tell tall tales by mouth, not commit his stories to paper. Makes me batty. Thank you for sharing!