Blessing #18 of 30

 I'm grateful that our stories never end!  It is a blessing to know that wherever we are in life that each of our stories continue.  I use to love listening to a newscaster named Paul Harvey.  He had a story line he used called The Rest of the Story.  He began broadcasting during World War II and in 1976 he started a radio show that was called by the same name.  I started hearing his stories in the 70s and I loved hearing details about events in history that little had been spoken of.   During the Christmas Devotional last night I was touched by Elder Nielsen's story of his father who served during World War II.  He shared with us the rest of the story of his fathers life and legacy.  As I thought of it I thought about many of the stories in the life of your ancestors.  Then I remembered the time Grandpa left Uncle Andy in his office.  Those of us who know the story have chuckled about our "absent minded professor" many times.  A little background.  I had to go to the store in Duncan, AZ and I stopped at the office where Grandpa was working.  I asked if he was going to be around for a while.  He was and so I asked if I could leave Andy, who was sleeping soundly,  while I took Billy to pick up a couple of things at the store.  He agreed and I left.  I was in and out of the store in less than 10 minutes and as I walked back to Grandpa's office a car pulled up beside me and it was him.  I looked to see how Andy was doing and realized that he wasn't in the car.  "Where's Andy?" was the question I asked.  The minute I said those words he got the most terrified look on his face and I realized he had left our baby alone.  Bill and I got in the car and we drove directly to the office.  When we walked in the office Andy was sleeping peacefully with the town Sheriff sitting at his desk.  Needless to say we had some explaining to do.  Needless to say I was upset with Grandpa.  As I look back on those awkward moments I remember how sad and embarrassed Grandpa was.  Because it ended well the story was often told and each time Grandpa was truly chagrinned.  But as with every event there is a "rest of the story."  Grandpa beat himself up for weeks over what had happened.  I had a hard time convincing him that it was an accident and everything was okay.  That one incident brought out a side of Grandpa that blessed all of us.  He became the most attentive dad there was.  He loved his children and when he was around them he tried hard to give them his full attention.  Often when I think of that story a picture always comes into my mind.  We were living in Kingman.  At that time we now had Ben who was about 15 months old.  Grandpa was in the back yard playing with the three boys and I was cooking in the kitchen.  I looked out the window and there was Grandpa leading a marching band of Bill, Andy, and Ben.  Grandpa was playing the imaginary trombone and his little band of followers were marching right behind him laughing and playing their imaginary instruments.  We are so blessed that our stories never end and in spite of our challenges, struggles, or mistakes we can continue to make things better!