2023-11-23 Thanksgiving

 

We enjoyed having Tim and Angela and our son, Jordan in town for Thanksgiving this year as we also completed the move of Marcielle from her Houston living center apartment to her new room in the care center near us. Wednesday we finished packing and moving so we could visit her Thanksgiving and nearly finish her room set up. While we missed her during our main meal together at home it is great that she is close by and in good care. And it was very nice having family in town that afforded us ample time to visit and share memories of all the events continually happening in our lives. Pictures.

 

2023-11-17 Sean Houston's Memorial Service

 

                                                                                        St Marys Catholic Church

It was with sad hearts that we joined family for Sean Houston's memorial service. The following facebook post provides a view of the day.

"Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion." - Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias. 

"So many tears, but also so much laughter as we grieved the loss and celebrated the life of Sean Trenton Houston this weekend. He was a gentle giant who brought great joy to those who knew him in his short 32 years on this earth. He was an important part of this big family of big personalities with big love, that I am so proud to be a part of. The loss is unimaginable, especially for his mom and dad, my Aunt Mo Carter Houston and Uncle Greg Houston, and his sister, Rachel Houston, my cousin. But because of our big, boisterous family, who finds laughter through tears, my brief trip to Houston was healing and peaceful. We laughed about old times and celebrated all the wonderful and funny moments we were so lucky to share with Sean. We also made some new memories that one day we will surely laugh about...  I'll leave you with this memory that gave us a chuckle as we drove out for the service this morning. As we drove from Lake Conroe to St Marys Catholic Church in Plantersville (it's the most gorgeous church I've seen and is on the list of the famous 20 Painted Churches of Texas), GPS was directing us using the many "F.M." roads through rural Texas. My mom and I recalled how, when Aunt Mo was driving us and her young kids to San Antonio to move me into my dorm at Trinity many, many years ago, we used several FM roads. My Mom asked "What does the F.M. Stand for?" Mo said, dead serious, in her lovely Texan accent, "Lil' Bitty Texas Country Road." My mom and I were silent as we tried to do the math/spelling on how to tum that phrase into FM". We couldn't. But Aunt Mo had shared an answer that was more than an acronym translation. She shared the actual meaning and that made us feel a little bit Texan and it was like she'd just shared a little secret with us. We later learned FM stands for Farm to Market. Same/same, really. And from then on, any time I'm driving the back roads of the gorgeous state of Texas, I remember that moment with toddler Sean and Baby Rachel in their car seats, all of us moving me to college in San Antonio. Maybe next time you see FM, you'll think "Lil Bitty Texas Country Road" and think of Sean's family, who is in deep pain right now. Love and light to you all, and RIP, beautiful Sean."  Well said, Jen Atlee.

On a personal note, Mo is my first cousin and we grew up together with her brothers as first cousins. Cousins were close and our families got together often or we stayed at one another's houses. Later as we all went our separate ways it was great to watch Mo and Greg marry and adopt Sean and Rachel. Our Christmas gatherings at Lake Conroe were special and as the family archivist and image production guy, a hobby I always enjoyed, I took lots of pictures and video that I made available online in which Sean is a part. In fact he starred in 1997 in the family group photo by sticking his tongue out in one or more of the shots. It was so funny that I photo-shopped his tongue and made everyone have Sean's tongue sticking out of their mouths. I made copies and sent the 8 by 10 group photos to family, including the photo-shopped tongue shot I created.

                                                                                    Sean's tongue

                                                                           Tongues on Everyone

                                                                        Family got Even the next year, 1998

Pictures