In 2003 I had an idea.
Realizing my fortune to have come from a family of story-tellers, and seeing how the greatest generation was starting to get along in years, I asked my Great Uncle Reid (one of the greatest storytellers of the lot) to write or recite a couple dozen of his favorite yarns so that I might collect, illustrate and assemble them into a book, so that these tales of family lore might never be lost or forgotten.
He balked at my first request. And my second, third and fourth.
But one day, months later, when I called him with the intention of prodding him for the fifth and final time, he told me that he’d been busily producing pages and pages of stories. Additionally he’d found a friend to type his manuscript and he’d contacted a local publisher about a small run print job.
A couple of months later at an Atkinson family gathering, he presented each family with a printed and bound book of his collected Chronicles, complete with photographs. He thanked me for my persistent requests.
I thanked him for his hard work.
And for stealing my thunder.
One Comment
Thanks Aaron – I was just thinking of them a few minutes ago, before doing a last check here for the day.