Friday Flashback....12 years ago

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? - Mary Oliver

It's a sad one this week folks, but I'll do my best to end it with "Happy Friday"

September 17, 1998 - 12 years ago.  It's funny how time passes.  When I say 12 years ago I kinda feel like it was just yesterday but then again I feel so far removed from it too.  I was 17, it was my senior year of high school.  It was a regular day at school for the most part except I knew my Granddaddy was about to die.

I had come home from flag corps practice the evening before and walked in the house to my Mom sitting on the couch.  I could tell she had been crying.  My best friend Jenny was there too because I had left my purse in her car.  I'm not quite sure how she beat me to my house but that's beside the point.  Maybe God got her there before me because he knew I would need her.  Jenny was crying too.  I hate that feeling...you know the one where you heart sinks to your stomach but your stomach jumps to your throat?  Yeah that's the worst.  I wanted to run away and fast.  I didn't know what I was about to be told but it wasn't good.  One of my dearest friends, Reynold, had been killed in a car accident the day before so I was already on pins and needles.  Our family had been through a rough couple of years and I didn't want to deal with it anymore.  Then my Mom explained.  My Grandma woke up and fixed my Granddad's breakfast and medicine then went to wake him up.  He said that he wanted to sleep a little while longer and she said ok.  She went back about an hour later and he wouldn't wake up.  He was sweating and unresponsive.  She called 911 and they took him to the hospital.  He had some kind of stroke where a blood vessel burst onto his brain.  Nothing could have been done.  He was on life support and we were waiting on my Uncle Nate to arrive from Florida.

My Mom sent my brother and I to school the next day which probably wasn't the best move on her part because neither one of us could concentrate, but I'm sure it's probably what she thought was best.  I went and picked up my brother and then I drove straight to the hospital.  No one was there and when I paged the nurses they said there was no Lester Reese there.  I went to my Grandma's house.  It was over.  They had turned the life support off and let him go.  I was heartbroken.

Just a few days before I had interviewed him for a project at school.  I got an A.  Below is a picture that he gave me just the day after I interviewed him.  I had asked for a picture of him in his Air Force Uniform and he said he would find one for me and behold it's one of my favorite pictures ever.  He was such a handsome looking young man but he still had the same eyes of the 70 year old man that I loved so much.  I miss him dearly.

My dear sweet Aunt Glossie passed away this past Sunday.  She was 90 and she was a wonderful person. She saw the good in everything.  She always showered me with hugs and kisses and I loved talking with her.  She was the only person I have ever know that would have enough nerve to tell my Papa when he was acting like jerk (and he would straighten up real quick) and she was also the last of my Papa's siblings.  It's seems strange that she's gone now.

She was full of laughs, full of advice, and she was very feisty!  She was the kind of woman that you didn't tell her she couldn't do something because she would surely prove you wrong.  She lived in Quitman, GA which is a good 4 or 5 hours away from here, it's almost Florida, and it's all back roads to get there.  She made the drive every year up here for the Hancock family reunion on July 4th.  She would get up early, make it here by lunch, eat and talk a while, watch and cheer as we all played volleyball and then go back home.  There's no way she would have ever missed it.  I missed my visit with her this year because we had a party for my brother that day before his deployment.  There are many stories I could tell about her but I would be too busy laughing and crying and this post would never get finished.  She will truly be missed by everyone that knew her.  Below is a picture I took of Aunt Glossie and my Papa just a few months before he got sick.  You can tell they had seen a lot in their lifetimes but they were still young at heart.  I think this picture really is worth a thousand words. They thought they were so cool in their sunglasses and the truth is they were.

And this picture makes me smile so much because I remember that moment well.  They were hootin' and hollerin' at the volleyball game that was going on and they were having so much fun.  And because this picture makes me smile I can say.....


Happy Friday!