One of my very favorite things to do up until the age of five was spent the night with my Aunt Opal in Paducah, Texas. Favorite memories include playing croquet with all the neighbors, catching horny toads , talking to truckers on the CB, dashing to the storm shelter to escape a passing tornado, and making the most scrumptious strawberry cake ever. My Aunt Opal deposited in me a love for life, a spirit of adventure, and shall we say a hefty portion of spunk. (Brad you can quit nodding your head.) One weekend my parents drove from Lubbock to pick me up and noticed Opal didn't look right. They convinced her to come home with us. During the two hour trip my aunt had a heart attack in the front seat. My dad drove like a bat out of hell. By the grace of God we got a police escort to Methodist hospital. I remember pressing my face against the window and staring at the Harvest Moon on that terrifying drive. I only saw my Aunt Opal one more time before she died. Ever since then I have been...
We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection." (Anaïs Nin)