Bill Watt’s Blog

I haven’t made time to blog about this yet so I’ll just toss out the obit that ran in the paper today:

James Watt, Jr., age 95, died Thursday evening, October 30, 2008 after a short illness. He was born on December 1, 1912 in Scotland and was a long time resident of Wilmington, MA and more recently a resident of the Canton Regency. James was a machinist in the Boston Navy Yard during WW II, retiring from the U.S. Gypsum Co. in Boston . He was a member of the Hill Memorial Baptist Church in Allston , MA and a member of Bethany Lodge F&AM, Brighton , MA . Proceded in death by his parents, James and Isabelle (Gillooly) Watt and by his wife Lillian (Ritchie) Watt. James is survived by two sons, James Ritchie Watt of Dracut, MA and William (Priscilla) Watt of Canton; two grandsons William (Alice) Watt of San Jose, CA and James (Jennifer) Watt of Canton; two great-grandsons James and Joseph Watt of Canton; and a sister Isabella (Andrew) McGowan of Fl. Funeral services will be held Wednesday (Nov. 5, 2008) at 11:00 am in the Arnold Funeral Home of Canton with Dr. William Watt officiating. Friends may call one hour prior to the services from 10-11:00 am. Donations may be made to the Church of the Covenant Memorial Fund, 3014 Fulton Dr. NW , Canton , OH 44718 . Interment will be held on Saturday in the Wildwood Cemetery in MA.

( Arnold , Canton 330-456-7291)
www.arnoldfuneralhome.com

So, today my grandfather turned 95. Gotta love that.

Yesterday was the closing on his house in MA.

I visited there pretty much every year I can remember growing up, went for at least one Christmas to visit Grandma and Grandpa without Mom and Dad as a kid, and lived there for about 10 years after college during my, “Oh my God… I have to work for the rest of my life. What now?” phase.

It was good to go back at the end of may and move out most of the rest of my junk (thanks to Mom, Dad and James for getting the very last of it mailed out) and to spend some time with Grandfather. It was also good to see him near the end of my sabbatical but never again will we be in that house that he built while my dad and uncle were just kids.

Some of my fondest family memories are of sitting in the kitchen on summer nights with my grandparents and parents and drinking hot tea (with milk per the style in the Old Country). It was something we did because it was my grandparent’s home and that’s when they would sit and talk before going to bed each night.

Looking back now I can imagine how they would work all day in the opposite of my Web 2.0 world and then take that time to sit and catch up. Funny how talking about my grandfather makes me really miss my grandmother. I wish she could have seen the world as it is now (with the exception of the global political garbage) and to see how her grandsons turned out.

If you ask my brother he’ll tell you I was her favorite but I think the combination of me growing my hair to hippie lengths and those awesome great grandkids would have made James the favorite hands down.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List show but I love her. Yes, it is “adult language” and topics so those of you who don’t like that would really not like this show or her act in general. But if you have a chance, this episode where she prepares to go on a Rosie O’Donnell cruise is very touching.

Her parents have been a big part of her D-List show and in this episode, it feels odd to call it that when it is so raw and personal but it is reality TV, her father passes away. He was a funny funny guy and reminds me a bit of my grandfather with his say what comes to mind approach and his upbeat personality. Even when he passed he asked to have golf on the TV and to have control. The thing that is so hard is watching Kathy deal with it on camera. The performer side of her has to go on but the pain is just so real.

I’ll be honest… I’m heading to see my grandfather tomorrow and this is one of my worst fears. What’s going to happen on the day I get that call? He’s had a great run (he’s ~94 yrs old) but if I could trade 20 years of my life to have him for another 20 it wouldn’t even be a question (as long as it didn’t require surgery… you know, I’d want that pill that takes from one and gives to another… ).

As a side note- I lived with my grandfather for 10 years after college when I was spiriling out of control, had no idea what to do, and no real aspirations. He was there for me and we became really close over the years. I was lucky to have that kind of time where before I thought it was great to see him for a bit each summer and maybe at Christmas. It became so normal to have him around that when Alice and I bought a house we picked one about 7 miles East from her folks and 7 miles West from my grandfather. It was really cool for me as an “adult” to have that sense of family all around. Sunday dinners with her folks at our place and weekly dinners and all the holidays with grandfather.

Anyway- I hate the whole topic of mortality. I don’t want to think ahead to any of this but it is a reality. But, I’ll just make sure and tell people I love them and never leave with unsettled issues.

I also need to try and do more than just focus on work. Yes, I want to work hard and I know that makes my family proud to see what I do but in the end, the job will just have been a job. They give vacation time for a reason and I need to take advantage fo that to get back home and see the family and to see my nephews grow up!

The 1k connections on LinkedIn and all the friends on Facebook won’t buy you another minute. (But if you want to add me to either network I’d be happy to accept the link!)

Today was the wrap up of the cleaning effort and the hauling away of my junk from Grandfather’s. We had the “got junk” folks stop bye and make it all go away. It was exactly what I had hoped… made a call and the rest was easy.

And again I got to eat some of the best fajitas ever. Thank you Border Cafe for being as good as I remember! 

Then I made my way down to the airport and hours later I was in California and having dinner with Alice at A Bellagio. Nice to be home.

Well, I got into Boston last night around 7 and then met Eric and Marc at the Border Cafe around the corner from my hotel. God, why doesn’t all chicken everywhere taste like that? Then we went and got coffee. I do miss some things about my old life.

Today I went over and spent some time with Grandfather and got some cleaning and packing done. Many books to pick through and figure out what to send to CA. I have a few more hours to put in tomorrow plus some time Monday to meet with the real estate agents and the 1800GotJunk folks.

I was able to catch up with Dave and his family and then we went to Red Bones (Yelp review) for some awesome bbq (brisket, wings and sausage) for me) plus really good beer. Yes, most people like the beer better than the food but I’m a fan of having both as oftern as possible.

And really, after a few pints and some bbq foods, what’s better than coffee? My CA friends will be interested to know that I went to a coffee shop across the street from a Starbux and didn’t even feel guilty. We went to the Diesel Cafe (Yelp review) and got a nice soy latte and then we just sat and talked.

I just wish I had more time.

Well, it is almost time for me to go on sabbatical and I need to start planning. Here’s what I’m thinking so far:

• Since this is our 2nd anniversary we’re trying to work out a short trip of some kind.
• Spend the first 2 weeks wrapping up some details at home including some oh so fun visits to the dentist and a short trip to Ohio.
• The 3rd week will be back visiting with Grandfather and helping Mom and Dad with that. At the same time I’m hoping to catch up with Jen, Eric, Dave and a few folks.
• The next two weeks I think I’ll be in Europe and am finding some interesting options like this one. During this part I’m hoping to catch up with Sravanthi and Nirav.

It’s a bunch to get done on a “vacation” of sorts but if you have any ideas, let me know!

He tells me he’s 94… the things this guy has seen. I’m going to start logging a few of my favorite grandfather stories:

Grandfather has told me many of the same stories time and again. One of them usually comes up when we’re flying from one place to another and we’re looking at planes. He talks about his grandmother taking him down to the beach as a young boy in Scotland. The military had a display going on with different tanks and planes and what not on platforms on the sand so the people could marvel at the latest technology. Now grandfather told me this story many times but once a few years ago he couldn’t quite put his finger on a word as he was telling the story. He said, “uh, you know… what do they call those with the two wings?” This is the first time I realized that grandfather’s first plane was a biplane! It just never dawned on me before.