Dear Simon

Simon,

Howdy from the hills of Tennessee. Nashville to be more precise. It's your grandfather on your mom's side here. A bit about me. I was born to Si and Rosie (Sprague) Siman in the hills of the Ozarks. Springfield, Missouri. Queen City of the Ozarks. A hillbilly by birth. Two older sisters, Susan Elizabeth and Jayne Louise. Si was a music guy and my mother a beautiful loving woman who took care of the kids and the household. With Indian blood I'm told. So there's a little bit of Indian blood in you too. Cherokee we think. A brave tribe indeed. I followed in my father's footsteps (pretty big ones I might add) for my career and I'm a music man too. You probably have a little of that in your blood too. Your dad's got some of that too! And your Mom, well ask her some day to play you a song she wrote and recorded. And if she won't, I will play it for you! I digress.

SoI don't know your name yet, and of course you don't know mine. And odds are you won't be calling me by my name (heck, you won't even be talking for a while!). And odds are I won't be calling you by your name to start out. You will be known by lots of nicknames until you get old enough to declare how you would like to beknown. Many of the nicknames will be cute and somewhat embarrassing but hey, ya gotta roll with it. I promise you when you get older I will go with your choice. Your aunt Rosie was Rosanne until one day she wasn't! Till then, sweet cheeks, munchkin, cutie pie, probably something that rhymes like "buddywuddy" will be your moniker (fancy word for name!) Your personality will help dictate these nicknames but sometimes it's just circumstances beyond anyone's control. Especially yours. So try and behave as an infant least you end up with a funky nickname. I'm sure you will have a special toy or comfort itemto help on this point – your Mom's was a piece of string – ormore specifically a piece of fuzzy yarn. It started from apiece of yarn off a blanket. Who needs the blanket, give me the yarn! Your Mom never actually said that but that's how she felt. Where was I? Oh yes, names.

On my end, I could simply hope for the best when it comes to my Grandpappy name. Rosie's dad died before I was born so I just knew him as George in pictures. He was a large man who workedon the Frisco Railroad. Her mom (Ruth) was the classic Granny. I called Si's dad (Ely Earl) Bump or Bumpa. He could fix anything. I loved him dearly. We played with trains and went to junkyards together. Hope we get to do some cool stuff like that one day. I spent the night a lot with Bump and his wife (Lillian) who we called Nanna. Pronounced "Naw Naw." But back to my name. There's a chance that you will come up with something clever to call me but I'm not one to leave things to chance. Especially since you are the first and will be showing the other grandkids that follow the path! Kids notoriously have trouble pronouncing certain letters and then I'm liable to end up with something that is a cute name. Not good for a hip old man. I have a reputation to uphold! And then the cute namesticks. Ugh! So, to help, I've done a little research ona thing called "Wikipedia." You type in several words on athing called a "keypad" into a "search engine" ona thing called the "world wide web" on your "MacBookPro" and it shows you all types of information. Like magic! We used to do this through printed books called "encyclopedias." One year my Mother bought a set of "WorldBooks." I just can't tell you how cool those were. But I digress.

Inregard to Grandfather, Wikipedia says: Inwriting, Grandfather and Grandmother aremost common, but very rare when referring to a grandparent in person.In speech, Grandpa and Grandma aresometimesused in the UnitedStates and Canada.In Britain, Ireland, States,Australia, NewZealand and Newfoundlandand Labrador, Nan, Nana, Nanna, Nada,Nanny, Gran and Granny andother variations are often used for grandmother in both writingand speech. Numerous other variants exist, suchas Gramp, Grandpap, Grampy, Granddad,Granddaddy, Grandpappy, Pop,and Pappy forgrandfather; Grandmom,Grandmama,"Granny" and Grammy/Grammie for grandmother and Gogo foreither, etc.

So as relates to the variant for you and me, I am going to recommend you call me "Scooter!" Or perhaps "Grandpa Scooter." I had that as a nickname as a kid. You have to admit, it kinda rolls off the tongue. "Scooter, Scoooooter, Scoooooooter!!!!" "What time is it Scoooooter???" "Are we there yet Scooooter????" "Can I have some ice cream Scoooooooottttteeerrr???" and that's where I say "Yes! Chocolate or Vanilla? Or both?!" "Strawberry is fine too!" "We can share a banana split if you like and get all three flavors!!!! Don't tell your mom!" That's a famous grandparent saying, by the way – sometimes a dad saying too – like when my dad hit me with his car while I was riding a bicycle around our horseshoe shaped driveway at Rosie Acres. And he uttered those fateful words, "Let's not tell your mom about this." To which I wholeheartedly agreed in fear of losing substantial bike riding privileges. Hey, accident happens. And I wasn't hurt anyway. But I did fly over the handle bars, landed on the hood, and was face to face with my Dad through the glass windshield. Fair to say we were both a bit surprised! But still I digress.

Now that we have the formalities aside, and we know how we will greet each other - "Hey Kiddo!" (Note: you will always be a"Kiddo" or a "Buddy") "Hey Grandpa Scooter!"- we can get on to some important things in life. Always listen to your parents. They really are smarter than you think. They might make some mistakes but their hearts will be in the right place. And you will make some mistakes too, but I pray your heart willbe in the right place. Eat your veggies. They're good foryou. Hated them as a kid, love them as an adult. That'strue for a lot of things. Don't watch too much TV. TV wasbasically invented when I was born. Talk about a game changer. Exercise. It's amazing what that can do for you! I play golf – it barely qualifies as exercise but my doctor told me it did and I'm rolling with it. "A round of golf counts asa workout," he said. Now that's a good doctor. Read. Every year I went to school was better than the last andreading was the key. Your Mom and Aunts were amazing readers. Couldn't keep enough books around. Berenstain Bears wasvery popular. Goodnight Moon was a winner. Have you found the mouse yet? I read Bugs Bunny as a kid. Rascally Rabbit. We would go to the public library and check books out to take home. With a small paper card called a "librarycard" that had a piece of metal in it with a number so they knew who had the book. Which they copied on to a piece of paper withink! Crazy, I know!!! And if you were late bringing it back you paid a fine. Go figure! But I completely digress.

You are coming at a monumental time in my life. They say things come in three's. Teresa (my adoring second wife who based on her Spanish heritage would like to be known as Abuela) and I just signed a contract to sell our house on Nichol Lane, I launched a record company (yesterday as a matter of fact) and YOU. You are the third! As to the contract for the house, your Mom and her sisters have pretty much moved away and they ain't coming back. We raised three independent minded strong willed smart women. Independence is a good thing. We have a huge house with a pooland a golf green. Between you and me, I'm not gonna miss the house so much. Way to many light bulbs. But that golf green, can't begin to tell you how much that's helped my game! I will miss that. My golfing buddies hope my new place won't have one. Now I'm totally digressed to the point of rambling. Oh, yes,back to the record company. It's called rpm and our first act is Maggie Rose. I hope when you're readingthis you're like, "Wow, Maggie Rose. She was huge!" Then again you may just turn up your nose at our music. Most kids do until they go through the retro stage. That'swhen you will discover the Beatles, the Stones, Zeppelin, Scott Joplin, Gary Stewart, Tim McGraw, Brenda Lee, and whatever elsestrikes your fancy. And you will discover the music Sipublished and learn how he got Chet Atkins arecord deal. We listen to songs on an iPod or iPhone. No telling how you will listen to music. Makes my business scary! In my early days we played songs on a turntable and they were in a "groove" on a piece of plastic called a "record." Quite quaint! There I go again, rambling.

OK, back to you. Welcome! You will be born in Tacoma but you have roots in Tennessee and Missouri and Spain and gosh know whereelse. We have a house in Isla Mujeres, Mexico and perhaps oneday you will go there! We may not still own the house when you get old enough to go but you can look at it and say my grandparentsused to own that. They say we are 99.9% similar in DNA; it'sthe .1% that makes us different. Embrace your difference andembrace the difference in others. Say please and thank you. Never hit a girl. Never. And I will leave you with these words of wisdom I used to tell your aunt Rosie, your Mom Lillian andyour aunt Marion when they would get out of hand: No biting, no fighting, no hitting, no spitting and no fussing. And your mom is not a chair. The kids would climb on your Grandmother Judy (who was and is a great mom). Relentlessly. So I made up a song about it but can't quite remember how it goes. Which happens when you get older. You forget! I also made upstories about the Ice Princess and the a little dinosaur that gotcaught up in storm and whisked away to a cloud only to be rescued by a bird. All because he didn't come home when his Mom told him too. Come home when your Mom and Dad tell you to. Rather than hoping I remember everything, it's part of my motivation for writingthis letter. I'm 57 years old. When you hit your teenage years I will hit the big 70. Egad. There's a lot ofthings you need to know as a teenager and instead of imparting years of wisdom and life experience, I will be trying to figure out where I put my car keys. Best to write some of this down. Speaking of writing, your Mom is a fine writer. Her Mom is a fine writer too (you need only see her letter dated April 30 to know what I'm talking about). I write in choppy little funny sentences that spellcheck says are "fragments" but it's best read aloud. In a group. Where people can clap when you're done! Must be the "show business" in me.

I will see you shortly, hug the snot out of you, hold you like a football, rock you in a rocking chair, make funny faces to you, talk baby talk, change your poopydiaper, wipe your bottom and hand you back to yourparents and enjoy a nice glass of wine. Hey, I think I'm gonna enjoy being a grandparent.

Hugs and kisses,

Grandpa Scooter

Christened Scott Foster Siman