My Amazing Papa

Sorry for the whole dropped-off-the-face-of-the-earth thing... Two major homework assignments last week kept me pretty busy. It was pretty interesting, too, because one of them involved a lot of self-analysis, which is a little hard to do sometimes. Analyzing areas of my life that need changing and improving. Making me face up to things about myself I would rather not face up to.

But the OTHER assignment was the real treat. It was a genogram, basically a family tree, with a paper to go along. In the course of writing the paper, I got clarification on a few old family stories that I had apparently gotten wrong before. It seems that Nana never gave Papa an ultimatum about being a musician or a father - he made the choice to stay home more after my mother was born, since he finally had his little girl (something about daddies and their daughters)... I also knew that he had played with Buck owens, but I never knew that the Roy Clark role on Hee-Haw, was actually written with my Papa in mind. He turned it down, saying he didn't want to commute that far for the taping; if they would have moved the taping up to where Nana and Papa were living at the time, it would have been a different story. He was on show that broadcast more locally, and my mom remembers on Saturday afternoons, the kids would help dad get ready, and then an hour later be watching him on TV.

I always loved, admired, and respected my Papa... but the more I learn about him, the more I wish I'd had even more years, and even more chances to talk to the wonderful man that was my grandfather. I miss you, Papa. Rest in Peace, Roy Chandler Wilson.