Ya birthday came around again and it still dont feel right saying heavenly in front of it. Been saying it a few years now. Still catch in the throat every time.
Young Block. Cuz. Loud as hell and proud of it. Could not walk in a room without the whole room knowing he was in it, and did not want to. Big laugh, big arm round whoever was closest, big opinion on everything from the plate to the playlist. If the music was wrong he was gone say it. If the music was right it was probably his.
Yall know how we do birthdays for the ones who gone. Somebody gone play his stuff loud in the car with the windows down. Somebody gone tell the same story about him that get told every year, and it gone be funnier this year than last, cause thats how it work, the stories grow and the people dont. Somebody gone laugh too hard and then go quiet right in the middle of it, and everybody in the room gone know exactly why, and nobody gone say nothing. Thats the part the pictures dont catch. Loud, then quiet, then loud again, cause quiet is not what he would want and we all know it.
Ya missed. Not sometimes. Not on birthdays only. Always. Every group picture got a gap on the end where the big arm used to go. Every cookout got a spot by the speaker where somebody should be standing telling the DJ he wrong.
Happy heavenly birthday cuz. Keep ya arm round us. We still feel it.
About The Author
