Mason was born a month after our youngest daughter Laura. They first met each other later that year, in Dallas, and engaged in some deep and meaningful staring at each other, along with a bit of drooling. Despite the fact that we lived in different states, we continued to see Mason almost every year during his early years, at various family gatherings and visits. One of them was a week at Lake Shasta when Mason and Laura were just a few years old, where all the cousins were present. Mason, Laura and Kal spent lots of time in life preservers (wondering at these strange puffy things the grownups insisted they wear), and getting to know their older cousins Josie and Dominic, who graciously allowed themselves to be splashed at and grabbed onto. John and Lori moved from Spokane back to Dallas around that time, and Koy and I went up to help. I still remember John describing how they took Mason somewhere else while the movers packed up the house. When they returned to the empty house with Mason, he looked around and exclaimed, "hey where'd my house go?"
We had a lot of fun when Mason spent time with us in California during early elementary school years. He and Laura both had good imaginations, and fun times were had collecting and picking just about anything that could be picked or collected, including oranges, lemons, sea shells from the beach, and most of all, the fabled "treasure rocks" -- small brightly colored pieces of plastic that were hidden in various places in the yard. Imagine Easter egg hunts on steroids, as Mason and Laura went round and round excitedly poking in every nook and cranny for these exquisite jewels. Hours of fun for the whole family, including the grownups, who had to expend very little energy after the initial outlay of hiding them, and just sat around watching the kids having a great time.
We got to know Mason better during these visits, and it was always fun to watch his enthusiasm when he got excited about something (like treasure rocks, or bacon, or most any type of food that contained meat -- we seem to recall him eating a large pizza all on his own when coming back from a day at the beach with us). He was lively, curious, energetic, and agreeable, even going so far as to play Sleeping Beauty with Laura, all dressed up in her princess outfit and pretending to sleep as the handsome prince hovered over her (probably thinking to himself "hmm, do I really have to kiss her?!")
Family visits continued throughout late elementary and early teenage years, alternating between Texas and California. Mason started wearing his hair longer during this time, and looked a bit like a middle-school version of Peter Frampton, with long, flowing locks and curls. In high school he really started growing, but even though changing physically, still had the same good-hearted nature as when he was young: kind, gracious, easy to be around, is how we remember him from their visit out here in 2017.
Kevin went to Texas for a brief visit early last year, just before the pandemic hit; in part to connect with him, as we knew he was going through some difficult times. The same enthusiasm was still there, as he warmly greeted me ("hey, Uncle Kevin!"), and showed me his tatoos.
So much of our journey through life is about the people we have around us. We are so glad we had Mason in our lives, and will remember him always. We love you Mason!
- Uncle Kevin and Aunt Mary