Another Tribute

Today is the 50th birthday of my grandson’s grandfather and my daughter’s father. I think that would make him my first husband. I honestly think I picked the best man for my daughter and grandson. They should thank me profusely every day!

A little tribute to him today to mark half of century on earth:

I have been very fortunate in knowing some very good people in my life and he is one of them. He is one of the funniest guys I know. He could always make me laugh even when I was in the most rotten of moods. All he had to do is speak in this high pitched voice and pull his pants up into a wedgie and walk all hump back. Sort of like Pee Wee Herman but this was way before Pee Wee came along. I could never keep a straight face when he did that and he used it against me every time I was angry or in a bad mood.

I met him in Forked Island Louisiana which no longer exists as it did back then. Hurricane Rita destroyed that place too. Rita destroyed a lot of the childhood places I would visit but it didn’t destroy my memories.

He was the drummer in a band that my cousin and I would go listen to. The first time I went to listen to him play he was singing a ZZ Top song (LaGrange) and when I walked in his drumsticks literally flew everywhere. I didn’t think anything of it, I just thought he was a bad drummer, but later he told me that I stunned him the first time he saw me. I was a pretty little thing back then and he was very handsome and we were instantly infatuated. It was the summer of 1974.

He proposed to me in August of 74 as a joke and I took him seriously and said yes. When I said yes he was shocked because he didn’t think I’d agree to marriage. The rest is history.

He and I were kids when we got married May 31, 1975. I was a virginal sixteen year old and he was an impatient nineteen year old. He literally worshipped the ground I walked on. I had no clue what love was at that young age. The marriage lasted 15 years and he put up with a lot of crap from me in all those years. I was such a bitch to live with since marriage was the last place I wanted to be. He was a very loving person and I killed his spirit because I was an unhappy person. We became friends and I began to view him as more as a brother than a husband since we sort of grew up together.

He was and is to this day a very undemanding person who never puts up a fuss about anything. He takes life as it comes and is very fun loving. My daughter has his personality and I’m thankful for that. And I’m thankful for the time I spent married to him. Him and his family taught me a lot about life and he helped me become the person I am today. I have absolutely no regrets other than I wish the hurt and pain of marriage and separation could have been avoided.

A funny story about Brent. I would have my best friend visit for the weekends (we were both 17) when he played gigs because I didn’t like to stay alone at night (we lived way in the country). I was still in high school and our place was the place to visit. No authority! Brent’s father had built us a brand new home which was also completely destroyed in Hurricane Rita. We were always playing practical jokes on each other. One night Brent went to the shower and as a joke I removed his clothing from the bathroom. My girlfriend and I waited for him to holler at me to bring his clothes back to him. Well the joke was on us because he walked into the living room stark raving naked in all his glory. My friend who had never seen a live nude man in her life damned near pissed all over herself. We learned our lesson that night.

Throughout our years, along with his wife and her family, we have remained friends and amicable towards each other and we share two things that are very special to all of us...a daughter and a grandson.

Here we are in all of our innocence: