Family Stories

Mom and Dad are leaving this morning - driving all the way to Billings from Denver - after a delightful visit. We ate good food, shopped at Trader Joe's,and freed Mom's fingers from the weeks-old polish that just would not come off. Best of all, Nana and Papa told stories.  Rob had worked more ancestry.com magic before the visit, to get started on a family tree for both sides of the family. Lo and behold, Mom and Dad have extensive trees for both sides (which they promised to send) and they also had a wealth of family trivia and anecdotes to share.

Dad's Aunt Gertrude played at Carnegie Hall, a portrait of his grandfather "Clavy" still hangs in a Billings High School, and his mother went to two years of college in an era when women didn't do such a thing. Mom's grandmother Mary came to the United States from Finland - alone - when she was only 16 and married when she was just one year older. Mom's father, Oscar, was a terrific multi-sport athlete who once cracked a vertebrae in his neck sliding into base; he also played basketball and had state records in the pole vault.

A common thread among all the stories was the hard work of our ancestors. They slaved in coal mines and lumber mills, cooked in boarding houses, took tedious desk jobs and taught music for pennies. My parents' generation was the first to consistently attend college, and now their grandchildren's college experience is an expectation. From basement apartments to tar paper shacks they rose  - first to small homes in Billings and then to homes across the country.  Though our stories are unique and personal, it also felt part of the fabric of America.

We are reminded of how blessed we are by the efforts of our family. They probably did not feel glamorous, perhaps felt the loss of youthful dreams, but they are the giants that we stand on. Further, they've passed on a love of words and music and competition and family. A few choice phrases will live on in my memory, as when Dad told me that a cat licking his tuschus was "playing the bass viol." I'll never see Rex using his tongue as toilet paper without that image in mind!

So - many thanks to Mom and Dad, and thanks to Mary and Anna and Herman and Oscar and Clavy and AJ and Ruth and Agnes. We love you all!