Hoodoo Highway

He Would Be 40

He would be 40 today. Born in 1967 in New Orleans, LA. I remember my dad taking me over to the hospital but I could not go up to see him. I stood by the car under a huge tree and waited for my mom to look out the window and wave at me. I wasted time picking wild strawberries and counting clover heads to find a 4 leaf clover. I, finally, got to see her wave at me.

He came home, a big chunk of a thing. He liked to eat. He smiled a lot. He was interesting enough but still not a lot of fun. That all changed as he got older. He was a talker and quite inquisitive. He used to sneak into my room at night to crawl into bed with me so he could talk. I would fall asleep to him telling me stories he made up about wars, things happening at school and characters he created. He was a pain in the ass, too. Aren't brothers supposed to be that?

When I was 16 I got my own phone line (how cool was that?). I started locking him out of my room at night because I would spend hours on the phone with my boyfriend talking and he just wanted to make fun. The next morning he was ready for me to get up and play so he would dial my phone from downstairs and just laugh when I would answer.

He was charismatic, a collector of people. He never met a stranger, although he met and befriended many strange people. Ask his circle of friends, they will tell you to this day that he brought in some misfits and weirdos and protected them from everyone else. His friends were like the united nations.

He was open and honest. He was a bull shitter, as well. He turned me onto the blues more than anyone else did. He was the life of the party. He could imitate almost anyone. He played guitar and loved Rush, U2 and Robert Cray. Today, I will listen to some of that, in honor of his birthday. I still miss him so much and I know I am not alone. He left us many things but one sticks out - the smiles on the faces of everyone he knew when they reminisce about him.

So maybe today a few smiles will creep across my face. Here's to you Billy - and what would have been your 40th birthday.

posted by Deb @ 11:56 AM