Thursday, June 14, 2007

Mortality

I watched my father die earlier this year after a long bout with cancer. He died at home, with dignity and peace. I miss him.

There was another grandfather in my childrens lives, their mother's father. I called him Boonie, a diminuitive of his middle name. When I was divorced in 1998, Boonie waited a respectful time then came to see me. He started the conversation, "We've been friends too long to let something like this come between us." The fact that he reached out to me while in a divorce with his daughter meant the world to me. We remained friends, to the point that he attended my second wedding in 2003.

He remained a good friend and a good grandfather and reveled in his great-grandchildren. Last Sunday, after church, my son took his children to see Boonie, and from all indications, it was a good visit. The next day Boonie fell and struck his head. The following day it became apparent that there was some internal bleeding and the condition was inoperable. Boonie passed away Wednesday morning.

I've lost a friend. Boonie and I hunted together for several years, basically the decade of the '80s and part of the '90s. He loved hunting rabbits over beagles and together with his son, Gary, we put together one of the finest rabbit hunting packs in north Louisiana. At one time we had 26 dogs, all tri-color, blanketback beagles. During that decade, we ate a lot of rabbit meat. I still yearn for rabbit, from time to time. If I ever decide to start another kennel, the lessons I learned from him about breeding, training, and hunting over beagles will all come back as I begin.

Boonie thought that a 20 gauge shotgun was all that anyone needed for upland game, and his constant cheerleading for that gauge explains why I have three in my gun rack and each of my sons lean toward that gauge for shotgunning.

Boonie was a sailor as a young man, one of the US Navy's destroyer sailors. He served during the Korean conflict and when the beer was flowing and the fire had died down, would tell stories. His 'can supported the Marines during one amphibious operation in particular and he'd tell about bringing the ship in close to the shore, so close that they could hear the gravel bottom scraping the ship, and laying the big guns down almost to the wavetops to blast at enemy guns that were killing our boys. When he'd talk of the Navy, I could smell the salt and feel the steel deck underneath me.

He loved to fish as only a Cajun can. Bream and bass were his favorite quarry and if I had to guess, I'd say that he liked bream fishing most of all. He knew spots where we could put in a bateau boat and spend the afternoon under the cypress trees with cane poles and crickets. In a matter of hours, we'd have filled the ice chest with hand-sized bream, then take them home and clean them before dark.

He always had fish in his freezer and loved to throw a fishfry, whether it was for family or a hundred of his closest friends. One Saturday he came out to my house in Natchitoches to help me throw a crawfish boil. We got the men organized and started cooking. Before the day was over, we had cooked 400 lbs of crawfish, and fried 20 pounds of catfish fillets, along with 85 of his good bream, with enough boiled corn and fried potatoes to feed anyone who showed up. At one point, a Cajun band set up in the front yard, just because. When we were throught eating and dancing and drinking, there wasn't enough fish left to make a Courtbullion.

He loved his family, oh my, how he loved his family. He raised eight children, he and Rita, working two jobs for many years to keep them in food and clothes. He loved to drink and he loved to laugh and he loved with all his heart.

I'm going to miss Boonie, too. Godspeed, old man.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My condolences, PawPaw. Sounds like a man who would have got on well with my Great Grandfather whom I miss dearly.

Anonymous said...

To love someone is wonderful, but to be able to express that love so well is glorious.

Anonymous said...

I too will miss Boonie. Many a good morning during my childhood was spent learning about life from him, his sons, and PawPaw. I fondly remember the morning a puppy and I both learned how to hunt rabbits. I don't know who was laughed at the most, the puppy for getting run over by a rabbit, or me for trying to outrun the rabbits. I've come across many men in my life, but few who actually earned my respect. Boonie will be missed.

Anonymous said...

My God, PawPaw, how did you do that?

You described Boonie so well that now I miss him too.

Anonymous said...

PawPaw D..... I've reread this blog often as Boonie, Daddy, was so dear to me. You defined him in a way only you can.....his essence will be with us always. Thanks again for letting others know just what a special man he was. The anonymous comment reminded me of Daddy telling me that story about the beagle getting run over by the rabbit!! How he loved those hunting stories. And what a way to really get to know his children, grandchildren, and his friends....spending the days together talking guns, rabbits, and basking in the loving attention of his family.