A Note from Tom Grimes
Roy,
After the celebration on the hill I had a long drive home; gives me time to think and ponder. Since the fun day was a milestone birthday for a friend I thought about milestones and a friend, namely you. The thought that struck me is that you more than anyone else I know see their life experiences as a STORY, their story, a narrative that has it's beginnings before they were born and will play out after they are gone.
One of the lessons I have discovered is that my memory is not a perfect flashback replay … nobody's memory is. We “assemble” our memories from key experience bites and fill in the blanks (thought particles perhaps). The memories of our past are in effect re-filmed every time we recall them. As we rethink the stories of our past we do what all good movie makers do … we edit. We clip out the fluff and puff and pointless, we fill in the background, create the set, then hone in on the core experience. Ultimately we end up with stories so well crafted that we can simply use shorthand to recall. My favorite example is “The Prodigal Son.” That title conjures up the complete story and it resonates in those of us of the Christian faith. Your little life vignettes (and mine) do the same thing.
In your Roy story I saw the connectedness of generations seeing you, Rex and Hollister in the same room … three-fifths of the Roy H. Williams in this part of the world. In a very real way (with narrative and names) you have connected the generations that span from your grandfather to your grandson.
Your Roy story incorporates the past. A lot of your “wisdom” parables are experiences with people who have crossed your path (like the MMM story about your former boss). The “storyline” of your youth has certainly shaped the trajectory of your life. Unlike most people I know you have carefully preserved your past with perhaps the most powerful knowledge tool every employed by humans … story.
And your Roy story continues into the future. You have a vision of the future. I think the best example of this was sitting at the round table at the old place on 967 and you told some of us gathered that you were going to build a TOWER on a hill. For most people this would be been dismissed as farcical but in your case I know that sometime in the near future I will be lifting a glass of red wine to my lips and repeating the story of our roundtable discussion several years back.
Most of us just sort of wallow around with the gunk that piles up on our doorstep today. Yes, we have pasts and family and future but few of us take the time to shape it into a compelling narrative, a cohesive story, that helps guide us, shape us and inspire us. Of course you, a master storyteller, know this but to someone like me who mostly bumbles about looking for doors and ends up in closets … this story thing is magical mojo. Funny I have to be around you for 8 years to connect the dots. Maybe if more of us took a page from your playbook and recast our life experiences into our LIFE STORY … it might serve us better.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Tom
And thanks for the invitation to the celebration. I had a marvelous time and you were a great sport. I hope you sensed a great deal of genuine warmth toward you from the people in the room. Let's see what my calendar looks like for March 29th 2018.