Letter from Connie Chance... read to Don

Tell Don to try to take himself to a peaceful place in his memories to help alleviate pain. Remember all the Christmases and family reunions spent at the old Byrd school house when we were all kids. Getting in trouble for playing the piano that we weren't supposed to play with @ the Byrd schoolhouse, everyone having to use the one two hole outhouse for a whole day (or the nights during Christmas/New Year party for just our immediate families: kids & grandkids of Mellie Brock Dent (Granny). Those were fun with old space heaters turned on instead of suffering from the heat at the family reunions. Remember Uncle Clyde making an announcement (Christmas- New Year) that he wanted a piece of the "ugly" cake which had fallen & Aunt Vivian exclaiming in horror that he said that. His explanation was that the ugly ones always tasted the best. The boys playing outside @ Byrd in the summer and always stirring up a bee nest somewhere. For some reason, one of the stories that I remember Buddy telling was that one night Don said he was hungry and wanted to know what they were having for supper. Buddy told him that you all were having T-Bones. Don almost started to cry and said, "but Daddy, I don't LIKE BONES!!" He can always remember the good times when you all lived in the garage apartment behind Uncle clyde & Aunt Vivian and we came to visit. I am sure that he & Dusty did some things that would bring a smile to his heart. The old barn, tire shed, fuel pumps, exploring all over the place. I can remember trudging up those stairs to get him when we came to town to visit. Also, I remember how proud he was of being able to live in the "old homeplace" after he grew up and got to remodel it to suit his taste. Did he ever go to Granny's right after a big rain and have to walk jfrom the main road up to the house. By the time you got there, black mud was stuck to your feet so bad that you could hardly lift them and they almost as big as basketballs. I will send more memories if I can dredge any up, it was all so long ago! Tell him that we all love him and keep him in our thoughts & prayers although I am sure that Dad will not be able to make the trip to see him. He is still trying to move along as much as he can, but Marge stays sick all the time, and he has to take care of her. I do hope he realizes how very much his Daddy loved him and he was very proud of him. Although Buddy didn't share his feelings often, he talked about Don several times when he would visit us and it was always bragging about something that Don had done with his life or something that Don had done to help him out with something. I hope Don can let his good memories bring him peace and ease his pain by taking him to better days in his memories, during these very difficult days.