refleckshuns of buddy don: how thangs change

me n miz bd jes gut back frum the secunt longest vacayshun i ever tuck (longest bein whenever we gut marrd). twuz a larnin eggsperients, speshly the part in knoxvull. our plans wuz simple: drive to tennessee, stay with mama, n then see the sites. whenever we wuz gittin reddy to go, eli calld us n sed twuz purrfeck that we wuz cummin when we wuz. i dint know whut he meant till we gut thar.

turnt out that mama wuz much wurse off than we had figgerd. eli wuz glad we wood be thar sos he could git sum time off frum babysittin her. whenever we seen mama, we could see why. las time we seen her, she wuz gittin feeble n havin sum trubles with fallin, but she was still herself, still gittin out n about.

then she tuck that trip to las vegas with roena may n lost her gall bladder. twuz a knockdown punch fer her that wuz hard to magin. it left her so feeble she couldnt barly walk. wurse of all wuz how she looked so much older. mama has always been verr keerfull bout her appearunts, keeping her hair dun n her makeup fresh n such. but twuz clear she had give up on a lotta that. it almost seemed lack she wonted to give up cumpletely. eli sed she had been a'sayin she wished she could fall asleep n not wake back up.

thems sad wurds to hear cummin frum yer own mamas mouth. we did git to visit one of our three yungns, witch miz bd brung two n i brung one into the marrg. the one i brung lives in oak ridge n twuz a pleashur to see im agin.

but othern that, our vacayshun time in tennessee wuz spent with mama, sittin by her bed, trine to git her up to do sumthin. on our last day thar, we had a lil luck. she wuz reminissin bout the old days n she sed, 'ifn ye wonta see whut life wuz lack fer me, ye orta see that new movie bout edward r murrow.' she meant that movie Good Night and Good Luck. i ast her why dint she go with us n she dint have no anser we couldnt beat by sayin we wood take keer of it. all she wood half to do wuz walk to the car, sit in the car, walk to the thee-ater, sit in her seat, etc. so she dun it n twuz magick.

afterds i ast whar did she wonta eat. she ackted lack thay wuznt no way she could go out to eat, but we cunvinced her to let us take her to one of her favert places n low n behold, she had a grate meal n grate time.

twuz her furst time out of the house since she gut back frum las vegas. she wuz sprized by how much better it made her feel to git up n walk a bit. we had promissd twood make her feel better, but she dint bleeve it till she tride it.

thays much more vacayshun to discuss, witch i hope to do tomorrow since thays plenty good news. but twuz rite to start with mama on a counta how when ye see yer mother lookin ole fer the furst time, tiz a shock, tiz a message frum life that thangs is headed tords death eventchewally.

on tuther hand, that aint no reason to give up. ifn ye fite, ye dont half to go quiet into that nite, so to speak.

our pall gies to bof tennessee jed (n fambly) n eric n fambly at straight white guy (eric, yer email dont wurk fer me – everthang gits rejeckted). we had hopes of visitin em bof, but we spent the time with mama n dealin with sum other stuff that i aint a'gone mentchun.

tiz grate to be home. i am ackshly lookin ford to wurk! corse, i have a nuther four days of vacayshun i gut to take ere the year is over, so mayhap nex week me n miz bd will be off agin.