Two months after Tommy was born in 1985, my nephew Evan arrived. He's always been a bundle of energy...smart, inquisitive, restless....and at the same time family-oriented...devoted, loving, loyal. The restless part of his personality led him to Wyoming on a job; the loving part is going to keep him there.
A day or two before the 4th of July, Evan married Liz on the lawn of a Wyoming courthouse. It was a simple ceremony witnessed by both families. While I headed east to Florida with my family, Daddy and my brother Donnie headed north in a moving van packed with Evan's belongings and towing his car. When they started out, it was just a road trip, a chance to be alone for the first time in years. They drove through Stratford in the Texas Panhandle, where Daddy grew up...enjoyed the scenery of the mountains unfolding around them...toured an old prison and who knows what else.
I'm sure nothing topped being able to share Evan's wedding day with him, though. They each share a middle name - "Leon" - and now they share a special memory, each from a different perspective. And if Evan is even half the husband his dad and granddad have been, Liz is a very lucky woman.
Where did the years go? Evan with Tommy and Daniel in 1991...Evan on his wedding day in 2009 with Liz...Evan with Donnie and Daddy (and Liz, of course, with her family.)
