A Trip to Mississippi

I vaguely recall Big Daddy's funeral. I was in college at the University of Texas at the time, closing a chapter in my life. I had a garage apartment in a stone house that was the original farm house for all the land that made up south Austin. It was more than a hundred years old and marked as a historical monument. It was on top of a tall hill overlooking Zilker park, the spring fed creek used for  swimming and the Colorado River. Breath taking view. I was there because my high school friends all were there, no other real reason.  I'm ashamed to admit that I probably missed as many classes as I made.  I remember flying into Jackson from Austin ( a big deal back then) because I was in school and my parents wanted me to miss as little class as possible. Big Daddy was special to all of us--he was Dad's sort of substitute father (Dad's father died when Dad was 10, and Big Daddy just adopted him into the family when he met Mom).  I probably was in a daze at his funeral though, I think it was the second funeral I had ever been to in my life, and the first one for a family member. I flew in and out seems like in the middle of the week so it was a fast trip. Also, I knew he was sick, but never heard directly he was in a life threatening condition until very close to the end. When I learned he was likely to die, I asked to visit, but Mom suggested otherwise so Big Daddy didn't get suspicious about his condition (literally, he never asked, and no one ever told him he was terminal--he must have known though--a little while before he died, they performed surgery to remove something, and opened him up, saw the extent of the cancer, and closed immediately. when he returned to the room and awakened, he knew he had not been in surgery long enough to remove whatever, so knew something was wrong). I don't hold any grudges, everyone was just doing what they thought right at the time, and my visit probably would have been more for me than him. When I saw him at the funeral it was hard to recognize him. he was thinner than I remembered and was not wearing his glasses.