The Gifted Underachiever

My life so far

Living the love

It was 23 years ago today that I lost Cathy. We were one month shy of our 23rd Anniversary, so I’ve been longer without her than with her in my adult life. Each year I become more numb to that loss. It’s not that I’ve forgotten. It’s that I don’t know where we would be right now.  We are where we are in life because of the decisions we’ve made. […]

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Amy: A Story

I met my Amy Soileau Dupre Veillon a few months after my mother died. Father Joe Breaux introduced us in this very church. I did not know that in two years she would become my second mother – my mother-in-law. It’s a long story. She has a long story. She has many, many long stories: Amy stories, Momma stories, MawMaw, Granny and Great-Granny stories. We are all part of her […]

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Firecrackers!

If there was one thing we looked forward to during the Christmas holidays second only to Santa’s arrival was firecrackers. I don’t remember going to the big tents set up outside of town. In those days firecrackers were sold at the corner stores – even the Mowata Store. My Dad loved firecrackers almost as much as us kids. He would do exactly what Mom told us not to: light the […]

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Chasing the Sunset

When she told me to come in the bedroom and sit down I knew exactly what she was going to say because she had told me the same thing seven years ealier.  “We’re pregnant!” Pregnant. Surprise! Not really a surprise. I was 45 years old, we already had three children; we knew how you catch it, and she had been exposed. Anyway, she was a devout Catholic playing Russian roulette […]

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Saturday Afternoon Rasslin’

Dad worked every Saturday. Sometimes it was half a day; others it was until 4pm. But every Saturday he would come home with a bundle under his arm. He went to the meat market to get something to cook on Sunday, but he also always had the same two items: ground meat for hamburgers that night and a couple of pounds of calf brains. I’d watch him grind up crackers […]

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