Harry Williams

OK, last week I wasn’t very good about posting, but that was because I was using all of my spare time to get things working so I could get the photo gallery up. And what a pain it was to get working! But I think I finally have it up, and I’ll have the Golf pictures up soon (and then I’ll have it done and ready to go for future pictures).

So, pictures are coming soon, and I’m going to commit to posting 2 articles a week for the time being. I’ll plan on posting an article on both Tuesday and Saturday mornings every week. That way, everyone will know when to expect new postings, and I’ll have a deadline forcing me to write. ;-D

So, see you on Tuesday!

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“There is an island…where rivers run deep…where the sea, sparkling in the sun, earns it the name ‘Jewel of the Antilles’” begins the show Once On This Island. At it’s core, this musical play is about the art of storytelling, how stories affect our lives, and as one of the closing lines state “Our lives become the stories that we weave.” The show itself is one elaborate story as the characters in the beginning start out as storytellers telling a story to quiet a frightened young girl. As the story progresses, the storytellers take on various roles in the story and act it out. It’s a great testament to the power of storytelling, how stories tell us where we come from, and what we stand for.

When you think about it, this is really true, especially in my extended Williams family, and I realized it this past weekend on the Williams golf trip. On Friday night, when we all went out to eat, the guys at my table were swapping stories all night - ranging from golf trip stories to childhood stories. While I’ve heard many of these stories, I never tire of hearing them again, because these are the stories I grew up hearing. These stories have given me a picture of the Williams family, and what life was like in the previous generation.

There are famous golf stories such as the “walkoff”, or the “list” stories. Williams childhood stories about growing up in the neighborhood where life was about summers with cousins, baseball, and beating each other up. Canada stories, fishing stories, stories about the legendary Uncle Bill Williams, Jidu Tom Williams, Grandma Effie, etc. I don’t remember what any of these relatives were like, but I feel like I know them through the stories.

When I thought about this, these storytelling men aren’t just reminiscing about the “good old days”. They carry these stories around with them as a part of their lives now. Some of the characters come and go, some of them have passed away. But, they still live on in the stories, and the younger generation, like myself, are able to still get to know them through these stories.

And that is why events like this golf trip are so important. It’s really not about playing golf. It’s about getting together to spend time with our family, the other “characters” in our life stories. And as countless golf trips have proven, it’s also about adding on to the wealth of stories that become part of the Williams tradition handed on from generation to generation. I’m sure that these Williams Golf Trips will join the ranks of stories from Canada trips, etc., and will be told to my kids and all of the others in the new generations.

It just goes to show that our lives really do become the stories that we weave.

Williams Golf Trip 2007

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Today, I was taking a bunch of pictures as we played golf throughout the day. I didn’t realize how perfect this picture was until I was looking at them later on tonight. When I saw this, I realized that this was perfect proof that Williams Men are actually Angels in disguise. I guess their true colors begin to show on this golf trip.

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Well, it’s been a beautiful couple of days for golfing up here in Iowa. We had weather in the 80’s yesterday, and in the 70’s today with clear blue skies all day today. I golfed pretty well, and my brother-in-law, Josh, golfed well too, especially after he started using his 7-iron for everything except for putting, earning him the nickname of “Seven” from my uncles.

We played two rounds of golf at the same course today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. After the morning round, Josh noticed that his socks were soaked from the dew in the morning. So, he went to the Pro Shop to buy a new pair of socks to use, even though the cheapest pair were $5.95. As he was paying, the young guy behind the counter told him with a smile, “Yes, but they’re guaranteed to take 5 strokes off your game!” Josh thought nothing of it, until afterwards, when he realized that he shot 5 strokes better in the afternoon. Best $5.95 he ever spent!  I wonder what would happen if he bought another pair of socks there or wore 2 pairs of socks…

I have some good pictures from the trip, and I’ll be putting those up in the next few days. I need to get to bed right now, so I’ll be able to function and play the last 18 holes tomorrow.

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September 19th marked the kickoff of the 10^th (I think - I’ll have to ask one of the founders) Annual Williams Men Golf Trip. As all of the Williams relatives are well aware, every year the Williams men and cousins in the family pack up and journey to Iowa where they battle it out in 36+ holes of golf mania. It’s rough, it’s brutal, it’s merciless, and that’s just talking about the guys playing.

Well, it’s always been a long standing tradition that this trip is always men only…until now. Leave it to the younger (3rd) generation to buck all trends and break long-standing traditions. But it happened. I went up to join the group on Thursday night (Sept. 20), and noticed the men softening. They had allowed a girl into the group, for who could resist that cute face? Yes, I’m talking about my niece, Kathryn.

My grandmother, who has the same name, has always pleaded and tried to get us to let her come along on the trip. It never worked, but what she couldn’t do, her great-granddaughter has accomplished.

My sister and her husband had all of the guys over for dinner last night, and that’s where I got the pictures. Kathryn had a great time hanging out with all of the guys, and I think the guys really enjoyed having her around as you can see by the pictures (click on the pictures for larger versions). But don’t get your hopes up, Williams women…the founders of the golf trip have definitely put their foot (feet?) down now, and there’s to be no other women allowed on the trip.

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Welcome to the official Harry Williams blog. It’s finally online! I’ve been wanting to start something for the past six months, but of course, have kept telling myself I’m too busy. A likely excuse. The older I get, the more I realize that I’m ALWAYS going to be busy, and just need to carve out the time and do the things that need to get done.

One of the other things is that I’m a little bit of a perfectionist, so I always want to do things the right way and have everything looking just right. That can also be a bad thing because then I will spend way too much time thinking about things or working on the small things that don’t even matter.

So, remembering what my Uncle Steve always said when I worked summers doing carpentry work with him, “We’re not building a piano. Do the best job you can do, but remember we’re not building a piano.” As a piano major in college, this of course, resonated with me.

So, here’s the start of my blog. It’s not a piano, and there will likely be many changes in the near future. I’ll be definitely changing the design to modify it to fit my style.

But, I’ve realized, sometimes you gotta just start, and fix things along the way.

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