SPECIAL OCCASIONS
All while we were living at Caswell, Craig and I visited Katie together, too. We had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with her more than once. Sometimes Larry would be there on the official day, and then we’d have our dinner a couple of days later.
Katie didn’t like to come to our house; she was more comfortable in her own home. Her back hurt if she sat too long in the wrong kind of chair. So I would roast the turkey and Craig would carry it across the street. Katie would supply trimmings and side dishes and set the table in the kitchen.
Craig and Katie would talk afterwards while I cleaned up. They’d offer to help, but I wouldn’t let them. I liked to listen to them, and I liked putting things away and looking through the cabinets in Katie’s little kitchen.
We sometimes watched football with Katie during the years when Bum Phillips coached the Oilers and the rivalry with Pittsburgh was fierce. Katie liked Earl Campbell and Dan Pastorini and Bum. We were Steeler fans. She liked Tom Landry and Roger Staubach, too, but we all boo-ed the Cowboys. Sometimes we watched Monday Night Football. Katie had a soft spot for Don Meredith, but none of us could stand Howard Cosell.
We watched presidential elections, too. We saw Jimmy Carter elected at Katie’s house in 1976, and we saw him voted out in 1980.
But these were special occasions. Most of the time, we’d go a few weeks with just maybe a wave across the lawn and a holler. Then Craig would go to South Texas for a few days, and Katie and I would sit up on the back porch and talk. Next
