Posts

For Dustin, Who Never Grew Old---Written on January 22, 2007

       For Dustin, Who Never Grew Old January 22, 2007      Last week during a Texas ice storm, I took a trip back home to say goodbye to my friend, whom the adults knew as Dustin Smothermon. But for us, he was and always will be Smooder. He was killed last Saturday on his way home from his job when his car was hit by another car. I know that the first responders did everything possible to try and save him, but they could not. Smooder died that night, and a piece of my childhood died along with him.     The memories of my youth have weighed heavily on my mind in these recent days since his death. When I learned of the accident that took him away, my mind began to travel back in time and made memories that had carelessly been forgotten, somehow bright and vivid again. Like it happened yesterday, I could see Smooder, Marc, and Brandon outside of my bedroom window for a late-night visit with cigarettes and Boone's Farm in their hands. I could he...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Eye of the Storm

Image
 They said that nothing would happen. It was okay to feel safe. Even knowing what had taken place the last time, they said it would be okay. We went to bed believing this with little preparation for what was to come.  Everything had been so calm and beautiful. Never had I felt such feelings of peace and contentment. This was the life I had always wanted, and I was so close to having it all. We were so close to having it all. Whatever home felt like, we finally felt it. We felt peace. And excitement for all of the happiness that would be ours in this life after so much pain and suffering and betrayal. We had finally found a soft place to fall, where we could feel protected, and loved, and secure. We believed that we would never have to go through the heartbreak again. It was a beautiful dream. All of the plans that we had made. All of the adventures that we would go on together. All of the love that flowed so easily and effortlessly.  I suppose that for nearly a year this...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Pumpkins

Image
 It is my favorite night of the year. Every year. And no Halloween night had ever been more magical than the one and only year that I spent it with you. You helped us get into our dresses and our wigs and our crowns. You lifted us into and out of the car in our extravagant hoopskirts. And you held my hand as we followed behind my babies through the neighborhood collecting candy and walking through homemade haunted garages. There had never been such a Halloween night for me, as we walked and talked about how next year you would dress up with us too, and every year thereafter. The October air felt lovely and hopeful for the first time in a long time. I loved you so much. You told me that you loved me too. There were pumpkins on the porch. You bought one of them. My 8-year-old daughter painted it like Pennywise the clown. There were two others, painted to look like a scene from Stranger Things, and another painted as The Nightmare Before Christmas. After the most amazing Halloween nig...
Post a Comment
Read more