My Son

This is for you Benny,

My nostalgia for Louisiana continued and then I started to remember some of the history I have with that State, the many years I traveled from Nebraska to reconnect with family and friends for the holidays. And so much of those memories were about my son Ben.

The time we inadvertently locked you in the car and while your parents were in an absolute frenzy, you sat in your car seat and laughed at us as if it were the best amusement of the day. You were maybe a year old at the time.

When you were seven, you lost one of your teeth eating a shrimp po-boy and the meal was on the house:).

How many times did you go to the men's restroom, only to come back and ask for a quarter so you could buy whatever they were selling in those machines:)))! You stockpiled those for quite some time...

Pictures of you as a baby, riding the streetcar, or as an older child down in the French Quarter...pictures of you with your grandma and Dan, naked as usual, washing their car....

And my favorite memory, you purchasing a voodoo doll and taking it back to Nebraska and sharing it with your friends. Your friend's catholic mother calling me to ask what "playing voodoo" was all about!

Here's to you Benny, and the 10 shrimp po-boys you ate while you were in the South this past Christmas!