I just found out that one of my old college friends died yesterday. Apparently he had an aneurysm. It's still a little unreal. John and I were pretty good friends during Freshman year, although we drifted a little later on, we were always friends. I had only just last month re-connected on
Facebook. Here is a picture that I took of him in his dorm room. It is about 13 years old, but he hasn't changed much. He still even has the beard.
Of course, hearing of his death has really made me think. At first, selfishly thinking about my own mortality. I think that's a pretty normal reaction when a contemporary dies. But then I got to thinking about John, and how I remembered him. We became friends in our Freshman philosophy class. John was much better at that sort of sophistry than I was and he helped me a lot. Many nights we would spend discussing the
whys and wherefore's of the universe into the wee hours. I remember one in particular, we piled into John's enormous sedan and went to
Hemisfair park in the middle of the night. 18 year
olds being completely indestructible, we didn't worry about the fact that downtown San Antonio is probably not the best place to hang out 'o nights, but youth is stupid. Anyway, we all found a likely bit of pavement, stared up at the stars and contemplated our purpose in the universe. John was, and remained until his death, agnostic. I guess those questions are answered for him now. I keep thinking, did I ever share with him what I know to be true? To be frank, my testimony in my college days was pretty shaky, but it was there. I don't think that I ever shared it during all of those late night philosophy sessions, and now, I never can. I wish that I had. No, I'm not feeling
ridiculously guilty, just sorry for a lost opportunity.
I'll miss you, my friend. The world has lost a good person.
So is Myra. She fell asleep in the swing while I was mashing potatoes and slept all the way through the bread. Sweet!
She wasn't any trouble though. If she wasn't asleep, she was happily cradled in Pappy's lap.
Or playing with Daddy. Here is what Dan did most of the morning... He's more helpful when it comes time to eat.
Logan - helping with the Mac n' Cheese. And perhaps trying to snitch a marshmallow. 
Oh, Dan took his nose out of his book for a while to play with Logan. He made the balls "disappear" into his lap. Logan thought it was to coolest!
But, when all is said and done, it's really all about the food. Here is our spread. There is turkey, ham, candied sweet potatoes, sage-sausage stuffing, mashed 'taters with gravy, potato bread, mac n' cheese and, of course, cranberry sauce (with lines). It was all super yummy, and we all ate way too much.
Several hours later, a few stalwart souls tried for dessert. There were pies (pumpkin, chess and Kentucky derby), turtle cheesecake, mud splats and rice krispie treats. I didn't manage to try anything until the next morning, I was so stuffed with all the yummy food.
Then there is the football... Mitch is teaching Myra at a young age about the importance of the Dallas Cowboys win over Seattle.
Of course, progressing through milestones also means lots of pictures!! Here is Myra's progress this week...
And here is the family and friends that were there to celebrate with James and Lindsay.