In the Family Page #10

You know, we had a good life.

A really good life.

He knew it, I knew it, but...

but I guess the thing we didn't

do was talk about the big stuff.

Each day kind of crept up on us

and we never said big stuff.

Like I don't think I ever

told him how happy I was.

Itd be nice if I did.

Itd be nice if we talked about big

things like a life together and like wills,

so bad on us, you know.

We didn't talk about it,

so the other guy didn't know.

So I decided I am not going

to make the same mistake twice.

I am going to talk about the big stuff

in front of Dave and in front of Eileen.

Im not going to assume they know what

Chip means to me. What Cody means to me.

So I want to tell them.

And this is important enough,

you'll give up all that other stuff.

Oh, yeah. Ive uh...

Ive started from zero a couple times in my life.

Giving up these things, Im hardly at zero.

But Chip is family.

Dave and Eileen are family.

I think it's more important they get

me than some judge gets me.

I don't know if its going to happen,

but I want to give them a chance to get me.

So, why don't I ask a couple questions

about some of the stuff Jefferson mentioned?

Good. You're going to help me out with questions.

Im going to help you out with questions, Joey.

Now,

Jefferson mentioned you didn't speak

at Cody's memorial service? Is that right?

No. I mean yes, that's right, I didn't speak.

Is there a reason why?

I had no idea what to say.

But I knew I should at least

try and say something, right?

I planned on talking.

I sort of helped Chip up to the podium,

and he went first.

I kind of stood with him

while he talked about his pa.

And Chip,

he was just up there telling everyone

this story and that about his pa.

Had everyone cracking up and bawling all at once.

And you know, it was the first time

all day it felt like Cody was close by.

When everyone else talked, it was like he

was slipping away, but Chip brought him back.

And I just thought it was the

right way to end things, you know.

Let his kid have the last word.

Yeah, Chip did us all a big favor that

day and I wasn't about to undo it.

Joey,

do you think you can share with

us a few words about Cody now?

Maybe some of the things you were

thinking about saying that day.

Okay. Uh...

I don't really remember what

I was going to say that day...

Why don't you just tell

us a little bit about you and Cody.

Okay.

Well uh...

me and Cody was pretty

much a surprise to both of us.

It wasn't just you guys, we were surprised too.

I mean, I never expected we'd get together.

He was just this nice guy I sort of knew, you know.

We got along and all. And uh...

I guess he had the idea first and one night he...

out of the blue, sort of kissed me.

And uh...

it just set something off. You know?

Suddenly everything was really fun.

And I just wanted him in every minute of my life.

The more I got to know him, the more I couldn't

believe I never saw all the good stuff before, you know?

Like um,

I have these musician friends,

but I learned more about music just

watching Cody listen to some Chip Taylor song.

Man, he loved his Chip Taylor.

Yeah, he loved his Chip Taylor, you make sure

you get that in there. He'll want that written down.

Oh Cody loved a lot of stuff.

It was kind of contagious, you know.

He saw good things in people.

Sometimes I don't know where he was looking,

but he convinced us it was there.

I think it's a little harder for us to

see some of the good stuff now.

Without him, I mean.

Yeah Cody was the guy I wanted to grow old with.

But uh...

he's also the kind of guy you

have in your life a little while,

and you know you're a lucky bastard.

Now Joey,

you talked a little bit about

your foster parents earlier.

Can you tell me more about them?

Sure.

Um... my mom, her name was Irene Williams.

My dad was Joseph Williams.

And that's where the Joey came from?

Yeah.

What did they do?

My dad, when he was younger,

he used to build boats.

He's originally from Louisiana.

As he got older, the things

he built kind of got smaller.

In the end he was mostly building guitars.

Also had a shop where he bound books.

Really good with the leather bound.

And he taught you how to do some of that stuff?.

Yeah.

We were kind of dangerous together.

You had a man who could teach you

how to make anything in the world

and a kid who just couldn't

get enough. It was just too cool.

Did you ever build a boat with your dad?

Yeah.

Not many people can say that.

I tell you it doesn't even begin to describe the guy.

He told me to call him Dad

from day one, and he lived up to it.

You know, growing up without a family,

you kind of get used to this look from grown-ups.

Yeah. They kind of look at you like,

what-am-I-gonna-do-with-you.

Dad never had that look.

He knew what he was gonna do.

He was going to be my dad, that was that.

And it was the most natural

thing in the world to him.

And what did your mom do?

Oh... she was full-time crazy.

But just about the most beautiful

kind of crazy you can imagine.

Yeah? Dad made the guitars,

and Mom had the friends to play them.

She loved like mountain music and dancing.

And with Mom, every week it was something new.

Yeah, you didn't know if it was going to be

Mom the writer, or Mom the archeologist, or...

I swear, there were a couple of months there where

all she did was make personalized urns.

Seriously, she did all this research into people's lives

after they died to make the perfect urn to fit their personality.

Just out of her gourd.

Its uh, it's funny, her life was all noise

and adventure and stuff, but um...

when it was just the two of us,

it was usually just quiet.

You know I, I guess everyone has to come

down a little at some point. But uh,

us around the house, not really doing anything.

I don't know why,

but that's what I think about a lot.

People like the crazy stories, but uh,

that nothing around the house stuff, um,

that's what I miss about Mom.

It sounds like they set a pretty

good example for you as parents.

They did.

Now. Can you tell me, Joey,

why you think you'll be a good father to Chip?

Well, uh...

I guess I never really had to

think about that question before.

Sure, I thought about how to be a good dad,

but I didn't spend a whole lot of time

trying to convince people I was up for it.

You know, I just did it. And tried to do it better.

Now it's like Im interviewing

for the same job I had for the last six years.

But Ive tried to think about the question.

You know, take myself out of it,

and think about it seriously.

And Im not about to say

Im the world's best dad.

But this is what I got.

I got a Mom and Dad

who taught me how to love like a reflex. Yeah?

If you do it all the time, it gets easy.

It gets into every little thing you do,

and your kid's going to have the important stuff.

Cody, he taught me a lot.

Cody was really smart.

People sometimes forgot that about him 'cause he had all

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