Book Smart

During the past three days, something amazing happened! Let me take you back to the 1940's.  My Dad, Buzz Hewitt, was attending Colgate University. His loves were my Mom and sports.  I'm unsure of the order:-)  He was a gangly, young man.... too blind to serve his country, too frail to play football, too lean to bash a baseball but stronger from the neck up than most.  An excellent student with knowledge far above his years. A whiz at statistics, economics and English with an amazing talent for pen to paper!  In the spring of '42 when graduation was on the horizon, decisions needed to be made.  His aspirations were to be a sports writer or in some way affiliated with sports but he felt his obligations should lead him home.  He was the only son of the owner of a large family business in a very small town.  He was expected to return and take his place at the right hand of God the father...............nope that father.....his! Not a very warm and fuzzy kind of guy but what man was in 1942?  That generation had it's expectations...great or otherwise.  The day following commencement, Dad became an integral part of Hewitt Brothers, Inc. and left his dreams behind.

Fast forward to the 60's where I was a strong willed teenager and the baby of three children.  A lot like my Dad in knowing what I wanted and more of a rebel in thinking I knew how to get it.  Dad, being the master of "notes," found it easier to communicate with me through the written word versus mouth to mouth combat. I have copious notes that I have received throughout the years explaining to me his views on everything from  my car might need washing to was I maintaining a healthy balance in my checkbook in case of emergencies. I have each and every note! Forever a writer.

As we aged and mellowed, we bonded in a strange and wonderful way....through sports.  He knew every statistic, every salary, every name, every record and the every rule and regulation of every sport. We had breakfast together at our local diner 6 days a week and our morning conversations hashed over the prior night's (or week-end's) games and all the fodder that followed. We had breakfast on Saturday December 23, 2006.  Sunday morning, December 24th, he was gone! I was so sad...sad that our conversations would be no more, sad that I would never get another "epistle" in famous Dad form and sadder yet that he made sure our dreams came true while dying before his did.

May 18, 2013, the day 5 years prior that I had buried Dad.....leaving with him for eternity, the sports section of the New York Times, (one of the many newspapers he read daily) and notes from my children....the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree, I was perusing Face Book (I know, shocker) and Tim Green had posted an open call for character names for a coach in his upcoming book.  I thought how awesome it would be if Buzz Hewitt could be that name.  I "nominated" him and low and behold he was one of 12 finalists. Time to rally the troops.

Last night, with the help of Tim Green and my amazing Face Book family we made Dad's dream a reality.  He will be Coach Buzz Hewitt in First Team.  He and his love of sports will forever be together in print for posterity! To Tim it probably seems a trivial thing, a great way to involve existing readers while broadening his fan base.......smart man but to me and my family, it's everything!

There is no doubt that in 2014, it'll be a Green Christmas in Moravia

.  Thank you Tim, Thank you Face Book friends and family who put up with my begging and endless instructions. Thank you all for the wonderful texts, emails and posts about their memories of Dad and Thank you Dad, wherever you may be, for being the kind of dad that put your heart into our dreams instead of yours.... Go get 'em Coach! ♥♥