Mark: (joint message to both Gigi and me) "I just sent you both my contact in Miami. She owns a company that hires for major films. She's going to do a Zoom interview with me. Maybe she'll do one with you guys if you contact her, especially you, Gigi. Angel, this is really more in line with what Gigi does."
Angel: (I go to the website he sent me and start reading. The lady owner has a recommendation in the middle of her first page from a top film Executive Producer. I read the name...hey, wait a minute... I google the name, I read, ... I write back to Mark) "That's my cousin on her front page." (I'm not going to write who in my story, for privacy)
Mark: "Your cousin???!!!"
Angel: "Yeah, when I read he produced such-and-such I thought, "Hey, my cousin produced such-and-such so I checked to be sure. He has the same last name as my dad's mom. He LOOKS just LIKE my dad. High forehead, Dad's nose. He's my age. I've always known my cousin produced such-and-such famous movie, we're all really proud of him. He's the kind of cousin you know you have but you've never really met, like that."
Today... I've taken my granddaughter to my parent's house. We're in the living room talking. My granddaughter is decorating the pretty pony I have a picture of her mom on at her age, a wooden one...
Angel: (to my dad) "Mark... (and I tell him the story). How's so-and-so related to us? He has the same name as your mom's maiden name." (My mom perks up to answer me. She's the one who has spent decade upon decade tracing our family genealogy. There are boxes and boxes upstairs in her work room.)
Mom: "Your grandmother on your dad's side lost her mom when she was very young. Her dad remarried another lady. They had children. One of their children was your Uncle Bill, the one you wrote your song about. He and his wife had children and then they had children and so-and-so (Feature Film Executive Producer of a really famous film you'd know immediately) was his child."
Angel: "So Uncle Bill was his granddad."
Mom: "Yes."
Angel: "Well, I felt really proud to tell Mark that. I told him we were all proud of our cousin but he was really liberal so we didn't really want to have anything to do with him."
Dad: "I think that was the only film he ever produced."
Angel: "No, I read all about him. He's done a LOT of films. Steven Spielberg calls him just to talk, it was in one of the articles I read. He's REALLY smart. He figures out EVERYTHING about the movies he produces, he picks just the right people and just the right locations. He's super smart and I think that's why they like him so much. He's serious, like you, dad, thinks of everything, organizes it all. I didn't recognize any of the other names of his movies except such-and-such and such-and-such. They're liberal."
Mom: "Yes, those WERE big movies."
Dad: "His father and I used to fight when we were kids. Uncle Bill and my dad would set up a fight between us, when we were about 10 and I could beat him most of the time. He was a lot bigger than me. If he got me down on the ground he'd win. But as long as we were standing I was faster and could beat him." (I'm picturing that scene.)
Angel: "He looks just like you. Let me get my phone and I'll show you his picture." (I do. I show them. They agree.) "Mark told me I should talk to him, get to know him. I told Mark, he was too liberal."
Mom: "Your Aunt so-and-so talks to his mom all the time. His parents live ...blank..." (she tells me the state and city they live in).
Angel: (I'm scrolling to see if I can find a picture of my famous cousin's dad so I can show my dad who has just wondered what he looks like now.) "He's worth 100 million dollars," I say. (I show them on my phone.)
Dad: (Looks a bit green. He's very competitive and did very well himself.)
Angel: "Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that Mark sent me to a contact's website and our cousin's picture was right there on the front page. It was fun telling him." (I'm still scrolling and reading.) "His wife graduated from Berkley. That's probably where he met her." (Saying that in my family is pretty much like announcing a death sentence. We are a fourth generation Abilene Christian University family and my dad's grandmother contributed to founding the first Abilene Christian college. I was born in Abilene. Mom and Dad met at ACU and married in Abilene. It used to be conservative. Now we barely even claim them, too liberal.) "But he's a really intellectual guy. I'm proud of him. He's done really well. That's cool Uncle Bill was his granddad." (I wrote a song in the 1980s called "Uncle Bill." I wrote it based on family stories I'd heard all my life. I didn't realize my Uncle Bill was still alive when I wrote it. I recorded it at Chapelgate and it was on my first or second album, I've played it for years. My mom said, "Your Uncle Bill is still alive," when she heard it. She played my song for him.) You can hear it HERE
Copyright 2024 Angel Isaacs All Rights Reserved
Written October 7, 2024 at 1:12 am