Parrothead Ramblings

Happy 102nd birthday, Grandma! Man, it doesn't seem like 25 years since you sailed on. I still miss you and Grandpa every day. You two were there when it seemed like no one else was. Mom and Dad divorced and there was just too much hatred and vindictiveness for a little kid to be exposed to. Wayne was off in the Navy, and you two were a calm island in a sea of turmoil for me and Gene.

Remember this picture? It was taken 40 years ago today, when you had just turned a young and spry 62, beside my father's camper at the old Hood Graham Ranch. I still have the camera - an Imperial Six-Twenty Snap Shot - sitting on a shelf in my office. It's darn near as old as me, but unlike me, it still works. Ha! Sometimes, I wish I could crawl inside it, and again see you, and Grandpa, and Mom, and Gene, and Cagle, and everybody else whose image was seen and recorded through that old camera's eye.

If I could see you again, I know exactly what we'd do: We'd go catch some bullhead catfish out of the stock tanks in the morning, hunt arrowheads in the afternoon, fry up and eat those bullheads for dinner, then spend the evening playing dominos, or Scrabble, or maybe even Aggravation on that old homemade board you had. And we'd talk, and talk, and talk some more. Maybe we'd just sit in the yard in the cool of the evening, for it was just too hot in the house. It seemed like it took forever for the tin roof on that old house to cool down at night. TV wasn't much in those days. We could get two stations in black and white if the weather was good, but we'd see what was on, anyway. Remember when we watched Neil Armstrong together, as he stepped onto the moon in 1969? And when you got freaked out watching "Jason and the Argonauts" on the old Saturday Night At The Movies on Channel 8?

Tell everybody up there Vivy and I said hello. I know how crazy you were about her, and she's even more special today than she was back then. And just wait till you get a chance to see your Great-Grandkids again, they're terrific! By now, Mom has told you all about Kim and Matt giving you Great-Great Grandkids, Ladybug and Brooklyn. Mom's been gone almost a year now, and never got the chance to meet Brook, but we made sure she knew Brook was on the way, even in those last days when she was so, so sick. Hey, can you believe ZMan is 25 now? Do you remember him as a tiny baby, sleeping in Grandpa's arms at your funeral? That poor, heartbroken old man would never have made it through that day without him. ZMan has a very special woman in his life now. I like to call her "Miss J," and look forward to the day I can call her my daughter-in-law.

Well, gotta run. Have a happy, happy birthday, and never forget we all love you! But most of all, Grandma: Thanks. Thanks for always being there, right up to the day you had to go on without us for a while. I want to see you again so badly, but I can't be in any rush. I still have things to do here, and I'll see you soon enough.

Your Grandson,
Mark and Family
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