I think I’m gonna be sad. I think it’s today. My brother and his wife are going away. They’ve got a ticket to ride. They’ve got a ticket to ride. They’ve got a ticket to ride, and that totally bites.
Tonight we’re going to help load the U-Haul that will take James and DeDe off to Phoenix where James will start PA school. I’m really happy for them. Really sad for me.
I didn’t appreciate James enough when we were kids. I sat on him a lot when we were little, in an effort to get him to see things my way. When we were teenagers, I was so socially and emotionally screwed up, I couldn’t handle the fact that he had a lot of friends and I didn’t.
I didn’t take time to appreciate the fact that he had the Hillcrest choir teacher’s whiteys in a wad when he tried to shed the light on his Dictatorship. I didn’t understand why he carried around a plastic deer with him to his classes. I didn’t pay attention to his incredible taste in music.
Then we both grew up. And I totally get him. He’s hilarious and smart and funny and insightful and responsible and kind. And he picked the coolest girl to marry.
DeDe and I went shopping a few weeks ago to find something to wear to Jesse’s wedding. We spent a few hours at Gateway mall, and no less than 38 times was DeDe stopped and hugged by someone who dearly loved her. (Okay, it was probably only 4 or 5 times, but that’s about 4 or 5 more times than the rest of us, right?)
At Jesse’s wedding last weekend, I admired the way DeDe ably assisted all the smooth-runnings of the reception. She helped the photographer gather who he needed. She helped with the karaoke, she paid attention to details. And not in an over-bearing way. She has a warm, unassuming nature that I really wish would have rubbed off on me a little before she was gone.
So, I think you’ll understand why, tonight, as we gather to send them off, the keys to the U-Haul might turn up missing.
