Velma Swaddle Theil & Stephen A. Theil, Jr. 1945 by Linda Theil When we were married, Steve's mother gave us an ornament from his first Christmas tree in 1944 to adorn our first Christmas tree in 1969. Steve was almost a year old on his first Christmas, but he had never met his father because his dad was in Europe fighting in the Second World War. His father was over thirty-years-old when he had been drafted into service; and he would not meet his son until another year had gone by. His first Christmas tree ornament was a tiny drum made from a tuna can, adorned with decorative paper decals proclaiming "Goodfellows Drum Corp". Two small wooden drumsticks were attached, but only one remains. Since our granddaughter, Emerson, is a percussionist in her middle-school band, I gifted her the drum this Christmas in remembrance of the grandfather and great-grandfather she has never known. Although my husband's father never spoke of his time in the service, recently Alisa...
Paradox: Even though we're going in different directions we can still walk side by side.