Nanny

Mickie Harris was as fine a person as you or I will ever know. If you don't know her, that is a shame because you would have known a woman that always went about things her way. She was one of a kind and everyone in her world loved and admired her, what she stood for and what she has accomplished in her life. She loved her family (a sizable family to be sure...) and would move heaven and earth to show them that love.

I am the oldest of her grandchildren. I am lucky in that regard because for a time, I grew up under her roof. When my dad was away in Vietnam, my mom and I lived with her and Papa. There are tons of stories and I am sure many of you have heard them all so I wont bore you with any of them.... but I was really young and somehow those images play in my head like it was yesterday. I have lots of those memories. I can literally scroll through and see decades of imagery in my mind because they lived in the same house virtually all of their lives. My mom and her siblings grew up in that house, and us grandkids all grew up in that house. I would imagine that it will always be what she pictures as home. That kitchen will always be Nanny's kitchen, and that house on Raney street will always be Nanny and Papa's house. This will always be her world in my mind.

There is something very comforting in always knowing where home is. Home to me will always be Nanny and Papa's house with Nanny at its center. It didn't necessarily look like the typical Norman Rockwell painting, but it was our Norman Rockwell painting. With this wonderful woman at its center, it will always be an image of home for me.

Her spirit and what I always call the "German" were strong with her... you always knew where you stood with her. She would flat out tell you what she thought and I loved that about her. I will give you some examples of her willpower... we laugh about it some but she drove a car for longer than she should have. She drove faster than she should have. She shopped harder than you would think possible. You couldn't slow her down, she was a force of nature that would not be denied. I loved that strong spirit she always possessed. When I picture a strong woman, my mom immediately comes to mind, but then her mom, Mickie, my Nanny is right there with her.


Nanny raised six children, sometimes on her own. When Papa worked for the highway department and was gone for most of the week, she raised her kids... probably with little help and little to spend. She brought up strong daughters and a son that in turn, helped pitch in and raise one another. It was this fortitude, this incredible bond of love and huge sense of family that us grandkids all enjoy when we think about our extended family. It was passed down to us how to properly raise a family. For me, she (my Nanny) will remain that example of how to lead a family.

The last time I visited her was done on a whim. I took a day off, midweek, and just drove out to Brownwood to pick up my Mom, Barbara. I didn't tell her much, just that we needed to go visit San Angelo. I don't know what compelled me that day but I knew I needed to. I will be forever grateful that I did. We saw Nanny on a good day and it took her a minute but she did eventually recognize me. Not living there and not seeing her regularly, I didn't know how much of a struggle some days were for her. She seemed happy. With all that she had been through... on that day she seemed happy. I am thankful for this because she also seemed to recognize how we felt about her that day. If she didn't remember the other days, at least on that day she knew that she was loved. I will always love that woman... and I will miss her.

Magdalene "Mickie" Harris
1925-2012

I wrote this in preparation for speaking at my grandmother's service this morning. I decided that I probably couldn't hold it together enough to get through it so I decided to post what I wrote here. With that said, my cousins did an amazing job conveying all the thoughts we grandchildren held for our very special Nanny. If you cousins are reading this... I know you guys call her Nanna but I am old school.

My Uncle Larry...

I have been having a recurring dream for a while now and it always hits me the same way. I get up early one day (like I do..) and I just head west out to San Angelo. Must be really early because west to Angelo means 4+ hours for me. Anyway, I show up at my uncle Larry's house at the crack of dawn and convince him that he needs to drop whatever it is that he had planned for the day. I tell him I have a better idea, which he somehow buys into, and he and I head out. I drive us out toward Mason where we get an outfitter to drop us in upstream and we proceed to float a couple of kayaks downstream along the Llano river for the day. We head back to Angelo in the late afternoon only stopping for some good bar-b-q along the way. Seems like a pretty ideal kind of day.

I haven't told you all about my uncle Larry? Great guy. Top bloke, really. Just a really good soul who I never get to spend enough time with. Moving away from San Angelo definitely had its downsides.

He is going through something difficult right now and I guess I am just thinking about him.

So why the dream? I don't know but I have had it all summer. It is getting deeper into the calendar and it already seems to be getting cooler. I am hoping I didn't miss my chance this season.

-bb

Wow... its been a while.

Hey gang. "What's happening (done for effect in Bill Lumbergh voice from Office Space)? I am going to need you to come in on Saturday, mmkay? Greeeat." Amber let me watch a little bit of that movie (Office Space, keep up) last night just before bedtime. Of course, with absolutely impeccable timing.. the kids happened downstairs and arrived at the exact point when there is a flurry of expletives jumping out of the TV. That is not even a movie that has a lot of language. Oh well, never fails. Sigh.

She also let me watch my Tour of California bike race coverage earlier as well. I think she must love me... that, or she wants to go shoe shopping. The real reason I think she let me watch whatever it is I wanted was because it was my birthday. It was actually a really good day. I worked only a partial day and then I went home around 2pm and got on my bike for a 60 mile bike ride. Amber then took us all out to dinner... so no dishes to wash... pretty close to an ideal day. Honestly they have all been celebrating my birthday since Saturday because Amber knows that its always been a tough day for me. You see, my dad died on my birthday. This has made it really hard to celebrate over the years but its slowly working itself out. She is helping it along by being really sweet to me on my actual birthday. I love her.

So news. Luc is just now getting interested in driving but it has taken some time... he has been 16 for a few months and has shown no interest in it. I think I prodded him into it when I reminded him that Karah is gung-ho about driving and at the current rate of things, she will be driving him to school next year. I could see the dawning of real thought roll over his face... NOT ON MY WATCH was what I got from it. We will have to see how that plays out. You don't have to lock up your children yet, but I will definitely warn you when the Binion kids get loose on the streets of North Texas.

Karah is doing well. She was in a fashion show at school a little while back and at the risk of pissing her off when she eventually sees this, I will post up a really poor cell phone shot I have of her. Here ya go (click on it to enlarge).

They grow up way too fast for me. I sent it out to a few people and some of the responses were funny. My brother called me up kind of speechless and then he spits out... "Man, you are in trouble..". Yeah, tell me about it. The funny part of this is that I tell him that she is so far removed from this shot that its hilarious... she is a true jeans, T shirt and Converse girl all the way. I am mad at myself for not bringing my real camera. Like seeing a snipe in the wild. Anyway, doesn't she look lovely? That is my little girl.

I always joke (everybody has heard it...) that I am going to have to take up gun cleaning when she starts dating... you know, me sitting there at the kitchen table cleaning one of several guns when she is introducing me to her date. Think of it as a visual deterrent of sorts. Now I am wondering if my running joke doesn't have some validity behind it.

Max is awesome. He is developing into a perfect little computer engineer. I swear he knows more about some programs than I do, and I have been at it a lot longer than him. I love to watch someone take in all this vast latitude of information and just accept it at face value, and then build on it. That is really something that not everyone can do. In my career, it is seen as a skill. I honestly think that this has helped guide my career at times... the ability to just accept info and start to build on it. It is the lateral thinking that helps troubleshoot networks and he has this ability. I just love sitting there listening to him and watching his mind work. Fascinating.

Amber and I often wonder what they will end up being as adults. My hope is for happy. Healthy and happy.

Went to a last minute Rangers game the other day. It was the series opener at home against the Angels. My nephew Jacob and his friend Connor were coming from San Angelo for the game and needed a place to crash. I said something like, "get me a ticket and you are in"... Nah, I offered up a place to stay with no strings but they got me a ticket anyway. Thanks Connor. It was an "all you can eat ticket" of all things. I have never heard of that until now. There was a 2 hour rain delay that started during the first inning... which resulted in my eating more hot dogs that evening than I have eaten in several years. They had other things, like chicken sandwiches, popcorn, peanuts etc... the usual concession favorites. With our magic wristbands, it was all covered by the ticket price. Cool concept. We were sitting in the bottom of the upper deck in Right field... "the Porch" I think its called. Game didnt get out of the 1st inning until well after 9:30 I think which is funny because it started on time at 7pm. Our seats were great and I have never sat over in that area of the field before. Couple of home runs were close but I never got to use my crusty old ball glove... although the Moreland shot was closest to reaching us. Rangers kicked butt and with the delay, we got home around 2am. When Jacob and Connor woke up, they went online and bought last minute tickets to the Noon game 2 back at the ballpark. Last I heard they were going to try to squeeze in the very last Dallas Cowboys stadium tour for the day before hitting the road back to West Texas. Oh to be young again.

I have been riding. I am actually back in love with cycling again. It comes and goes over time but I am really enjoying this year on the bike. It should be a bad year because I have already broken a bike frame, rebuilt a couple of wheels, been clipped on the elbow by a car's mirror on my commute into work, went down at 22 miles an hour on cement (separate incident)...and this is just the last month or two. I should be cursing the bike gods lately but I am not. Hoping to pin on a race number again soon. I need lots more work but I am getting my legs under me. If I can just push away from the table a little more often...

Sorry its been a while. I am making myself a commitment to taking up this blog again. So stay tuned.

-bb