Most of you probably don't know, but I was named after my father's mother Carol Paul (my middle name is Carol). She died last year, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about her. She had a special way about her...realistic, un-expecting and unassuming, with a real wry sense of humor, she was so funny. She was beautiful, yet tough. My grandfather (pictured above on their wedding day and in a few of the black and white pictures) died when my dad was seven, leaving my grandmother a single mother of four children in the sixties. She mourned for sure (she said my grandfather was the only love of her life) but she had four kids to take care of, so she did what she had to, worked and made the best. She would eventually remarry, but none would work out, because like I said my grandfather was it. Anyway, I miss her a lot, and I honestly hope I'm kind of like her/can be like her.


A little caption for the pictures: clearly my grandma is the young to old woman in all the pictures, my grandfather (Robert Paul) is in the cowboy hat in the 2nd and 3rd pictures, my dad is the baby in all the pictures/on the far left in the first color picture/the groom in the wedding pictures (my mom's the bride), the other young woman in the black and white photos is my grandma's sister, the first color picture is my grandma, dad and his brothers (Warren, far right and also the little boy in the 4th picture, and Bob, middle) and sister (Dorothy, also the little girl in 3rd picture), my brother (Robby) and I are the kids in the Muir woods picture, the older guy in the wedding pictures and the one with my grandma and the baby (my sister, Melissa) is Preston (they were married through most of my childhood), the group wedding picture is my dad's family, and the last picture is my grandma with her sister.