Death is the ultimate delegation

My Uncle Tom died on Thursday. He got a double lung transplant in March but has been suffering from a pulmonary illness for at least 2 years. The cousins are putting together a little book for memories for his family. Here is mine:

Making Waves

Every time my family had the opportunity to visit the famous Lakehouse in Minnesota, Uncle Tom would take us out on the boat. As a land-locked Texan, I marveled at Jen and David's skills at skiing and knee boarding. To this day, I have never mastered the graceful glide into the water after I let go of the ski handle or the 360* turn on a kneeboard that my cousins are famous for. Therefore, my favorite thing to do on the water was tubing, especially when Uncle Tom was the one driving the boat. I'd hunker down as far as I could into the tube as my Uncle took me on a series of twists and turns trying to throw me off. I'd giggle every time he'd look back to see if I was still there. I could tell he loved throwing people off. It was a great acheivement if you could stay on the tube with Uncle Tom. He was one of the roughest boat drivers when it came to tubing, which made him one of the best and most fun. A trip to the Lakehouse would not be complete without being in the boat with Tom making waves.

A Mid-Summer's Day Dream

After a friend tried to explain her knowledge on black widows, I said, "No, no, no. The black widow eats her mate when she's done with him!"

knock knock

"What?" My senses become foggy as I try to pinpoint the knocking.

knock knock

All of a sudden I awaken and register where I am. "Oh." I feel asleep in the back of Kevin's mom's new Sienna. All the back seats were taken out because Kevin was going to drive to Austin to unpack all his things from his apartment. I was in Houston to visit my boyfriend for a few days. We didn't get a lot of sleep the night before since my flight was delayed and I didn't get in town until midnight. Then, we had to wake up early to drive to downtown Houston for Kevin to work at his computer camp. Once he parked the van into the parking garage, he said I could stay in the back and sleep if I wanted to. So, I did.

knock knock

I snap back to reality once again. I look up from the blanket I used as a pillow and see Kevin's face in the rear window of the van. I smile at him, but the look he gives back is one of concern. Then, I see another face pop up next to Kevin's. Then, to my dismay, 3 more small faces peer in at me. I frown and put my face in the blanket/pillow to hide the sleep in my eyes. I hear Kevin tell the others, "Shhh...she isn't going to be very happy about being woken up. Be quiet." Kevin comes around the corner of the van to slide open the side door.

"Honey," he says sweetly, "I need to move the van because I parked in a 2 hr. spot."
"Ok."
"The others with me are going to ride with us."

Before I can protest, the 4 strangers hop into the back of the van with me. I say to them, "This would be embarrasing if I haven't already met you." I thought they were counselors from the camp that I have met before. The person closest to me gives me a strange look. Kevin turns around and says, "These are my campers." Ohhh... Yep, this is embarrasing. I crawl into shotgun and look back at Kevin's 4 kids having a grand old time in the back of the van. They all talk excitedly about the project they were working on at camp.

"We are rendering our video, so the kids don't have anything to do for a while." So that explains why all of them came with Kevin to rescue me and the van. Kevin parks in a new spot and we head back to camp. I immediately bonded with one of his campers named Gillan. Whlie Kevin and the rest took 9 flights of stairs to the camp on the 9th floor of the Frost Bank building, me and Gillan sneak off and take the elevator. "I just met you and already I'm getting you into trouble!" I told him.

When we got back, the program was still rendering. I sat in the corner with my book and watched Kevin do his thing at work. I was reminded of something my friend Michele told me about a year ago, "Everyone has an interesting story about meeting Jaclyn for the first time." Looks like I can add Kevin's campers to that list.