Kay and I spent the best evening with the sweetest lady Tuesday. We hadn’t seen Melissa Brown since the frenzied, socially distanced 2020 pandemic year, so we were way past overdue for a visit.
After I finished work at home, Kay and I picked up a delicious Big Brother pizza at i Fratelli’s in SW Fort Worth and headed to Melissa’s home in Crowley, where she had a salad and some yummy cookies waiting for us to share dinner with her.
Although we don’t get to see Melissa nearly enough, I hope she knows how much we love and adore her. She is the wife of my best friend and fellow lifelong Astros fan Doug Brown, who passed away at 45 in October 2002 (it seems much longer). They had been married only four years before Doug, the youngest of four children and the only son of a Presbyterian minister who died just a month earlier, was called to heaven.
Many of you knew and, like me, will always remember and love Doug, who was a truly remarkable man. And lots of you who didn’t have the privilege of knowing him are aware from my years of posts that he and I met when I started working at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1987. Our 15-plus years of friendship were more special than I, an alleged wordsmith, can ever put into fitting words.
We had a wonderful time visiting with dear Melissa, who recently had a birthday and retired almost four years ago after decades as a Fort Worth ISD kindergarten teacher. Since many of you will want to know, I’m happy to report that Missy is doing great.
We love you, Melissa. And we promise we’ll be seeing you again soon! 
A Life of Words 