Longklaw.com

Earlier in the month we lost my aunt Juanita, or Nita as everyone called her. I found out about it after leaving game night at CCs on a Wednesday night because her son (my cousin) posted about it on Facebook. It was a shock to me. My family tends to keep illnesses from me for some reason.

She was one of my favorite relatives. Very funny. Very caring. She loved her family. One memory that has stuck with me was at a family event when I was in grad school or maybe had just finished grad school. She said in front of the whole family that showed me I would have at least one person on my side when I came out, which I hadn’t at the time.

We had recently reconnected on Facebook. She liked and commented on all of my posts. Many times when she would see me out and about somewhere she would tell me to have fun. When she passed I realized it had been a few weeks since I had heard from her.

I wish I had gotten a chance to see her one last time.

I knew that we were coming on the 10th anniversary of the passing of my grandmother.  A few weeks ago, I went through old posts and figured out today was the day.  You can see what I wrote a few days after her funeral here.

I still think about her quite often. I wish I could go to Mississippi and visit her.  I’d love to know what she thought about my life these past 10 years.  I think she’d be proud.

My uncle Dennis passed away a week ago today. Like most of my relatives back in Mississippi, I hadn’t spoken to him in a few years. I wish I had seen him more recently. For several reasons, I didn’t make it back home for his funeral. It’s one of the bad things about being so far from family.

I remember Dennis living with us early on when I was living with my grandparents and other relatives. He made us kids laugh a lot. I remember one time he had accident with a saw and having to be rushed to the hospital.

Years later after he was married and had a son, I remember helping babysit his son when my uncle would leave him with my grandparents. My mom suggested the name they gave the son. I remember there being some problems in the marriage. I think that maybe he was drinking, but I’m not sure. Dennis turned things around though. He’d been a pastor for over 15 years I think when he died. He started his own church in Jackson.

Whenever I saw Dennis at family events after that, he still had his great sense of humor. He was always nice, even when he was trying to get me to go to church. He was always a big guy and in the end he died from a heart attack. He was 57.

RIP, Uncle Dennis.

Leading up to Christmas, there were times when I was really into the season and times when I wanted it to be over. Of course, the traveling was what I was dreading. I hate flying and driving gets old after a while.

I flew to Mississippi on the 23rd. This is the first time I’ve flown United. I had already made plans to fly to Jackson months before I knew everyone would be in Georgia for Christmas. I was going to cost around $1000 to change the flight to Atlanta, so I figured I would drive the rest of the way since I had already planned to rent a car. I spent the night in Jackson and drove to Decatur the next day. I had a blast in Georgia. I hadn’t seen my sister, brother-in-law, and niece in a little over 2 years and my mom since February. My niece is almost 3 now. She is adorable. I never got tired of her calling me “Uncle Will”. She wore me out a few times. I don’t see how parents do it. Seeing her joy at opening her gifts made me happy. It was great seeing everybody again and getting caught up.

The day after Christmas it was time to return to Portland. I drove back to the airport in Jackson. I ran into a high school classmate at the airport. Our plane was late leaving Jackson due to the plane arriving late in Jackson due to bad weather in Houston. I think we made up some time in the air, but it wasn’t enough. Between leaving late and being stuck waiting for a gate to open up after we landed, I missed my connection. I rushed through the airport as fast as I could. When I made it to the gate for my next flight and handed the lady my boarding pass, word came over the walkie that the door had closed. It was too late in the day for another flight. I was put on standby on the first flight out the next day. I didn’t like the fact that the customer service guy made it sound like it was my fault that I missed my connection. United put me up in a room in Houston, but I had to pay for most of it because my missed connection was caused by something beyond their control. This will probably be the last time I fly United, though other airlines would’ve probably done the same thing. I got a seat on that flight the next day and was glad when I finally made it home. Overall, a great Christmas, but I may be trying to convince everyone to come to Portland next year :).

What did I get this year?

• How to Be Black by Baratunde Thurston
• Super Fly on DVD
• Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlen
• A Best Buy gift card that I’ve already spent
• A nice shirt that I’ll probably wear on NYE
• The Bourne Legacy on blu-ray
• A Tardis cookie jar and Texas cookie cutter
• One gift that I still haven’t received yet

What’s been happening lately?

• My back and everything else is feeling better. It’s great to feel completely healthy for the first time since early summer.
• I had a little vacation around Labor Day weekend. It was so good. I mostly got stuff done at home that I’ve been wanting to do for a while.  I went to visit Mom for a little while. My sister and her husband were in town as well, so I got to meet my niece for the first time. I’m going to enjoy spoiling her.
• I’m down about 16 lbs so far. More to come.
• I’ve been doing the same stuff I normally do in my spare time.
• I caught the little town blues.

What’s been going on? August flew by. Work has been hectic lately and I haven’t done much outside of work.

I did go to Atlanta this past weekend. My sister was having a birthday party to celebrate her 40th birthday. Lots of friends and family came, you and old. They came from California, Michigan, Mississippi, and Georgia. It was a lot fun to see the family again. I need the go out there to visit more often. Atlanta is a cool place.

Football season starts this coming weekend. We play Jackson State here in Starkville. It’s our first game with our new coach and it’ll be the first game I’ve gone to in 4-5 years. I can’t wait to see JSU’s band play. I hope we have a good season, but I’m not getting my expectations up.

I like that the weather is starting to get cooler. Fall is coming.

My grandmother passed away this past Sunday. We called her Ma’dea. She was 88 years old. Her funeral was Thursday in Bolton, MS.

I lived with my grandparents from the time I was 6 weeks old until I was 14, though I spent weekends and holidays with my mother. My grandmother played a part in raising a lot of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren (currently numbering 21 and 24 respectively). She was a very kind woman and was always willing to help people out. She had a great sense of humor. She joked a lot and played pranks on us grandchildren. I can’t remember ever having anything negative to say about her. She is greatly missed.