The Trunk of Our Tree

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Bill!

It has been a busy day full of service and chores and family fun, and now I am working at the hotel, hoping you've had a wonderful day. Even though we didn't get to call you today, I hope you know we were busy doing things you could be proud of.



On my way to work I was listening to the radio (Saturday is my favorite day on NPR: Car Talk, Wait-Wait-Don't-Tell-Me, This American Life, Midnight Special, Prairie Home Companion, All Things Considered Weekend Edition, and The Thistle & Shamrock). I heard the most beautiful song on the "Family Folk" edition of Midnight Special. It brought tears to my eyes and I looked it up when I got here. Even though it's about expecting a baby, it reminded me of my whole family tree, all of us branches and sprouts, and you, the trunk...and all the things we've handed down.

***

The Things We've Handed Down

by Marc Cohn (performed by John Gorka)

Don't know much about you

Don't know who you are

We've been doing fine without you

But, we could only go so far

Don't know why you chose us

Were you watching from above

Is there someone there that knows us

Said we'd give you all our love?

Will you laugh just like your mother

Will you sigh like your old man

Will some things skip a generation

Like I've heard they often can

Are you a poet or a dancer

A devil or a clown

Or a strange new combination of

The things we've handed down

I wonder who you'll look like

Will your hair fall down and curl

Will you be a mama's boy

Or daddy's little girl

Will you be a sad reminder

Of what's been lost along the way

Maybe you can help me find her

In the things you do and say

And these things that we have given you

They are not so easily found

But you can thank us later

For the things we've handed down

You may not always be so grateful

For the way that you were made

Some feature of your father's

That you'd gladly sell or trade

And one day you may look at us

And say that you were cursed

But over time that line has been

Extremely well rehearsed

By our fathers, and their fathers

In some old and distant town

From places no one here remembers

Come the things we've handed down.

***

Thank you for all the good things you have handed down to me and now my children. We feel so blessed and we're all so glad you were born!

Love, The Melins

Heidi's face in this picture just kills me everytime I look at it...that's how I feel everytime I hug my Papa!

I am so happy that my kids will always remember picking oranges with Papa Bill!

For months we waited for James to smile again the way he smiled for Great Grandpa and Grandma when he was only a month old. Grandpa was always the Baby Whisperer!