These Are My Souvenirs

                                       "So I close my eyes and go back in time.

I can see you smiling, you’re so alive.

I close my eyes and go back in time.

you were just a child then, and so was I.

we were so young, we had no fear.

we were so young, we had no idea

that nothing lasts forever."

Well so much for posting regularly.
Right after I started this blog there was a loss in my family.
My middle brother, age 16, committed suicide.
I'm the oldest of 9. I have 2 brothers and a sister in IL that I don't get to see often.
Dalton lived with my mom in a town near here.
He would stay with me sometimes. He spent a good portion of Spring/Summer 2012 with me and my boys. He stayed with me during a lot of weekends while my husband was deployed.
My kids called him May-May. He was one of their favorite uncles.
I could let you guess why he was called May-May, because it'd probably be a more exciting story that way. But I'll tell you the true boring version instead.
When Dalton was little we called him Dolly Madison. I don't really remember why. I think it had something to do with the hostess cakes. And he hated it. And of course, as his siblings, we had to call him a name he hated.
Eventually we quit calling him that but it would still come up every once in awhile.
Anyway, one week I was staying with my brothers and sisters and we were talking about how all of them have nicknames that the boys call him.
Jeremy is Jay-Jay. Sammy is Bam-Bam. Jordan is Jordy. It comes out Dordy though. And Izaiah requested that he be called Uncle Zaiah.
So we decided Dalton needed a name.
We started playing around with Dolly Madison and Madison somehow became May-May.
At first he thought it was just silly and tried to change it but I think it grew on him.
Jeremy's daughter, Addie, started calling him May-May too.
He was a really good brother (most of the time.) and an even better uncle.
He always stopped what he was doing when the boys wanted to play with him. He even changed a diaper or two.
He will always be missed.

Last time together

Where's May-May?

Lyrics by Switchfoot "Souvenirs"