Wellllll, my memories stem from when I was a child, as I never seen much of him once him and his “new wife” moved out to Louisiana.
At his house in Perryton, he had this little Parrot, he was always talking to her.
If he was bored, he would go and sit down at the kitchen table and play a game of solitaire. Used to see him do that 2-3 times a day. I remember when I used to play solitaire on the computer but when he tried to teach me how to do it in person for some reason I found it complicated.
He used to sit down in his chair in the living room, turn on the table lamp, put his specs on, and whip out a crossword puzzle book. Everytime I’d catch him doing them, I’d hop up on the arm of the chair and do it too. Lol. Those moments alone are the reason I find myself doing cross word puzzles in my adult life.. and now my daughter enjoys doing them too. It’s a nice challenge.
He also did this thing where he’d go and eat breakfast EVERYDAY at The Smokehouse in Perryton. I’d go a few times but I’ve never really been a breakfast connoisseur, and he was definitely a man of routine.
The first and last major trip my brother and I went on with him was down to Louisiana to see Aunt Kathy and Uncle James, met my long lost cousins Briana and Caleigh, as their father was one of our Papaws sons. I was probably 10 at the time. It was the first time I had ever been introduced to MUDBUGS, and I watched all the men in the family set traps in a pond out in BFE and about five mins later when they pulled trap up it had hundreds of those mini lobsters.
Being out there was the first time my brother and i watched Jeepers Creepers 1&2 as well. Kid named Jesse swore I’d be scared of it cause I was a female I suppose, but there wasn’t much that put the fear of god in me as a kid, not even some character that had a thinned out mullet.
Other than the memories, he was a person that didn’t say much but didn’t have to. I know the death of his first wife caused him pain from that point forward, as she was genuinely the love of his life. Everything changed after that for everyone, but I know he’s happy to see her again. ❤️