Heritage...

Dear Grandpa Emmerich,

I know you're not around to read this, but I felt like I should write it anyway.  I've been thinking about you a lot lately as Matt and I prepare for Baby #2.  The reason is this...

In about 1952, you got some furniture when you were stationed in Germany with the Army.  I'm guessing my mom, Dale, was about 2 years old then.  I have no idea in which room you used this furniture, or if there were other pieces with it.

My mom tells me that your daughter, Dorothy (my aunt), refinished the furniture for you and Grandma, maybe sometime in the 70's?  It's now 2011 and I just finished refinishing that dresser and nightstand that you owned back in the 1950's in Germany.

I've been thinking about you because you loved to work with wood: building, carving, shaping, forming - and I can only hope to become half the carpenter and woodworker that you were.  I've started quite a collection of tools. :-)

I hope that you'd be proud that the furniture you got in the military was well-used by your family, refinished by your daughter, re-refinished by your granddaughter and will now be used in your great-granddaughter's room as we prepare the baby nursery for your new great-grandson.  I think you would be proud to know that even the girls in your family are holding up the hand-craftedness gene that you had.  Maybe someday Heidi will refinish the furniture to match her house when she is a mommy.

Thanks for your dedication to your family and for loving your daughters.  They've passed it on to me and there's a whole new generation that will have your heritage.

Love, Your Granddaughter,
Darcie