To Eric: Safe Journies

It was great to see Eric. With him, you can never miss. He reminds me of Aaron in so many ways. For one, he is always laughing or smiling.

He and his crew finished their job and left this morning. I'll get to see him again in May when we go there unless he has another job come up before then. He's been here a couple of times on jobs with the concrete business. He was here the week before Aaron was killed. Then a couple of times since.

Eric and I have always been pretty tight. He and his older brother Dana popped wheelies in wheelchairs, all up and down the hallway of the old hospital in Amherst, Texas when I had Aaron. Our hospital of tradition.

I was born there in '55, then Lisa, '58; Gary, '62; Zach, '79, and Aaron, '82. I had our last baby there ten days before it shut down. Shane and Kayla were born in Hobbs, but at different hospitals. So it had been a romantic notion of mine to have Aaron there, even though I lived in Lubbock. Plus I really liked the doctor in Amherst. Small hospital, so no problem for everyone to see the wheelies.


Mom was in the hospital too, and I had been there for a full two weeks prior, so by then, I think the nurses hated us both. Hhmm, go figure. What a miserable little time that was. I had Aaron on July 1, 1982 and the air conditioning was from the first round of babies in the '50's no doubt.

Aaron was always the craziest about Eric, even though Dana doted on Aaron more. In fact, Aaron got on Eric's nerves until Aaron grew up some. Eric didn't care much for the blanket at all, and hated it when Aaron whined, which as a two year old, was frequent.

Aaron couldn't say "Eric" so he called him "Rick," and chased after him dragging his blanket at ALL times! Aaron threw his blanket away, but he never quit chasing Eric; he followed him through their very last day together, which was less than two days after we left.

I have photos I've yet to scan that are in Aaron's Americana chest. I haven't made up my mind if I want to for this Valentine's, or save them for next year. It's strange running out of pictures. And next year will be leap year. They're photos of his last weekend with us, which as I've said, was Valentine's and too, leap year. Had it not been for my cousin, Tonya, I wouldn't have those. Actually, they were his. Tonya and Allie went to visit Aaron and the crew the day Lisa, Kayla, Greg and I left. None of us, but a bunch of them are of Eric and Aaron pulling each other on a tube or something behind Eric's truck. Those two never failed to find the adventure in something after Aaron grew older. I liked watching them together.

Love to all, and I hope you have a great weekend. I'll be back in the morning.

Semper Fi,
De'on