Generations of Craftsmanship

Mandy, again, blogging for my dad.  

In my living room hangs a leaf that my Grandpa Hazelton carved before I was born.  Etched in the back, it reads "Hazelton 1967."  

In fact, in the home of every one of his children and grandchildren hangs one of his leaves.  They formerly hung in my Grandma's house--it was always just Grandma's house to me because Grandpa died about a year and half before I was born.  I remember knowing, as a small child, that when I married and had my own home, I could pick one of the leaves.  That felt like eons away!  

What a tender moment, as my husband and I opened our wedding gifts, to see this leaf nestled in between some beautiful bath towels that my Grandma had crocheted a lace border onto.  This leaf was the first thing we had to hang on our walls!

This is the leaf hanging in my parent's living room.   When Dad's dad realized he was dying and knew he wouldn't be around to meet many of his grandchildren, he thought of this project.  I have wondered often of the thoughts he must have mulled over as he sat carving.

I think it is natural to wonder how you will be remembered.  To review your life and, with full recognition of all of your failings, hope that the good in your character will be remembered.  I appreciate the kind of patient, skilled craftsmanship that went into these leaves.  Grandpa Hazelton did a lot of carving and other woodworking.  As the years pass, the former years seem sweeter and those heirlooms of his craftsmanship seem more precious.