In the next 10 years of my life, my age will start affecting me: Aches and pains will pop up, and friends will start dying. Billy is, I guess, in his mid- to late 50s, and he talked about being at the point in his life where he’s looking back on his life. He had just returned from a trip home to Mississippi to visit family and friends. He spoke about the trip home with such happiness, and was full of smiles. I asked him if he wanted to move back eventually, and he said “yes.”
He talked about relationships he’s had, and how as we get older, even if it’s difficult, you should try to stay friends with people you’ve dated, even if the relationship didn’t work out. I’m not really sure how we got on that topic. He described a recent phone call with a female friend, and how they’d come to an understanding of where things stand with them right now. “It could come full circle a year from now,” Billy said.
He’s from Biloxi, Mississippi, a place that I visited several times when I was little, with my parents. I used to love those trips – I remember beignets, the beach, visiting historic places. I haven’t been back there since I was a kid, but I’d love to return. I’ve heard that it’s changed, with casinos, even. And some of those places were trashed due to Katrina and other storms. Mary Mahoney’s is still there, but I don’t see the seafood place we used to go to on the water. I also remember going to a plantation and learning about cotton picking, and buying a little sample of cotton still in its shell and taking it home. Beauvoir may be the one that I’m thinking of, but it looks like (sadly) most of it was destroyed in Katrina.
Mary Guiden 