From: Moya Watson
Date: August 28, 2005 9:53:30 PM PDT
To: richard watson
Subject: words for tomorrow

hi;
i was hoping mom or dad, you could print this and read this during the dinner or the toasts or whatever tomorrow night.
i love you both,
-m

Moya, Leanne, and Lucy are sorry we couldn't be there tonight to celebrate my dad's retirement. I wanted to send along some thoughts so we could be there in spirit.

I think of my dad's long career of service and i think: My father is an important person. Of course, just thinking of the long list of accomplishments of his career and his legacy, everyone will know why this is true, but let me share why it is really so.

When I was little, I remember visiting my dad at work. He worked in a special building with special people who were doing important things, but he had the biggest chair! This was an amazingly huge chair that was dark and smelled like leather and sat in front of a gigantic heavy wooden desk. The desk was covered with piles and piles of important-looking papers stacked behind a fancy sign that said "Richard E. Watson", and just looking at the name, I thought everyone must know that this is the important man and this is my DAD!

On the walls were plaques or scrolls full of big and important words like: Whereas, Resolved, and So Be It, dedicated to my father and signed by important people, next to pictures of those same people. When I visited, I was nervous but all of these people would smile at me like they knew me already and they made me feel like the most special person in the world, next to my dad.
Then, when my father would come home, sometimes he would have a paper bag full of candy bars. He would take me out in the car, and he would let me reach in and select just one special bar of chocolate, and he would take me driving. We'd drive up to a beautiful view and look at all the lights, or we'd drive to a special place where we could watch as planes took off into the air, flying so close above us, and it was exhilarating, When we drove home, we drove up a steep road, all the way up to the edge of the highway and then off into the air, into the night. And my dad was saving it all to share with me -- just for me. I felt like the most important girl in the world.

This is one very important day for a very important man, and by coincidence, it is his granddaughter Lucy's very first birthday.
My father has made sure to let me know how much he's looking forward to spending more time with Lucy. My daughter will be very lucky for this. The more time she gets to spend with him, the more she will feel like the luckiest, most important little girl in the world. And my father has taught me that this is what it means to be a very important person.

love
moya