Spring Break 2011 Broke My Heart

Spring Break Cruise 2005, Gayla and Me, we might
have gotten too much sun that first day.

Growing up, Spring Break was the be-all-end-all of vacations to me. There was no holiday smack dab in the middle of it for which to buy gifts, make big meals or have to go and do anything. Because my parents had to work every day, we three were free to sleep late, do nothing and just chill. The weather is usually nice. There was never anything pressing that had to be done. When I was a teacher, I loved to take this week to go on a cruise or do something fun with my family. Now that I am a parent, I take this week to be with my Hubby Dearest and Darling Daughter. We've made it a regular excursion to spend the week with my family in east Texas.

Sister on her Mexican solo vacation last year just a couple
of weeks before she was taken from us.

Last year ended my love of Spring Break. For the rest of my life, it will mark the week of horror that I lost my beautiful best friend and sister, Gayla Leeanne Moore, forever 38. A distracted driver was doing something other than driving his tractor trailer and his inattentiveness stole away one of my greatest joys.

How I will always remember myGayla

When the weather is sunny but the air is still cool, I will work in the yard and remember that day of planting hydrangeas and calladiums. When the moon is super full, I will remember watching it rise the night before we got the news and playing Words with Friends with my sister, me out on the back porch at our parents' and she in her house in Rhome. When I play UNO on my phone, I will remember Gayla, James and I huddled up in his room, playing against each other on our respective phones. Someday, when I think I hear Gayla's voice in those groggy moments before I fully wake, I won't cry when reality hits me.  

NOTE: I wrote a story idea down a few months back and have been fleshing out a possible novel. Then the new TV show AWAKE comes out and it's too eerily similar. Do I still write my novel?