Esther Cox
I have a lot of childhood memories of Eddie John since the 4 of us cousins lived across the street from eachother.
Eddie was the brave one. He was always ready to chase us off into any crazy adventure we girls could cook up to entertain ourselves for and afternoon or for the summer. When we had an idea we weren't quite sure we were daring enough to try out, he would go first, even though he was just the baby of the group. He would climb the fence to get our ball back out of the mean lady's yard, write his name on the wall in the alley, put his tongue on the frozen light post. He would be the one to try concoctions we mixed up in the kitchen, soy sauce, cinnamon and maple syrup with red pepper mixed in, you betcha. Whatever we did, he did, and oftentimes he did it first.
He would say the things I was thinking but wouldn't dare say out loud. And his sense of humor was irresistible. He always had me belly laughing.
Years later when I was a young mom facing divorce, I went to stay with my Aunt for a while and his sense of humor really helped distract from the depression I was feeling over failing at my marriage. But the thing that will never leave me is his gentleness. Not just with me, but with my baby girls. He would gently play with and talk to my toddler daughter while I fed and changed the baby. And then, he would tenderly hold and rock my baby girl while I was busy with the toddler. ( He would also make laugh til I cried by telling how much that baby reminded him of a "MadBall" toy when she was in full fussy mode. But, we won't talk about that. 😉).
More years down the road, when my grandmother was in her last days, I watched him sit by her and read to her from the Bible. ( Some of it ad-libbed, but pretty right on, I'll give him that.) He'd hold her thin frail hand in his big strong one. Those moments will stay with me until I see him again.
This is the man I want my grandchildren to know about. This cousin whose neck I look forward to hugging one day. These were the ways he blessed us without really trying and the things I will never forget.
