I didn't want to go. Hell, I never wanted to go to these things. My wife’s side of the family was like that. They loved to throw parties and have get-togethers. Birthday parties, graduations, weddings, all the regular shit. They did it every week. Yeah, I’m probably exaggerating a bit. Not every week but at least once a month. It was always crowded and every retard in the family showed up. It wasn’t all bad, the ones I ac...

I couldn’t believe it had been a year. Time for Christmas shopping with the wife and parties with friends. Normally, I hate shopping and am pretty much indifferent to parties. Not this year. I couldn't wait until Saturday. After last year, I had much to hope for. Tena, my wife’s niece, hosted the family party last year. The day, as you may recall, turned out very well for me. Normally, I despise these things. So many redn...

When I talked to you last, Tena had asked me to do some remodeling work in her upstairs room over the year. I'm not going to lie. It has been a hot summer for doing that kind of work. It's hot in Mississippi anyway but twenty-twenty-three has been a mother fucker. Above one hundred degrees for nearly thirty days and zero rain. It's been a mother fucker. Tena hasn't cooled things either. You remember Tena don't you? I told...

It had been several years since I had made a tradition of helping my niece, Tena, around Christmas. Either at her parties, wrapping gifts, or doing repairs at her house. This year would be the first in eleven years that we would not be together. Tena and her husband had departed the day before Christmas on a cruise to Cozumel. They had been having problems and were trying to renew the spark between them. Tena had confided...