Check out our interview from Chron.com!!
http://fcarrera3.buzznet.com/user/video/





Frankie!!



Oh my God.

This past week was the greatest.

We spent the past week going to the Texans Training camp. We got up at 5am every morning to get there at 6, trying to be one of the first 100 people to get wristbands for autographs after practice.

We walked away with autographs from:
Matt Schaub
Mario Williams
Andre Johnson
Dunta Robinson (Frankie and Jazz got him to give them his gloves!)
Morlon Greenwood (they got his gloves too)
and about 50 other signatures on their footballs, hats, pictures and cards.

It was really cool and the kids had a great time.

Frankie, Fred and myself went to the 2008 Texans All Access event last night.

It's an event for season ticket holders where we get a tour of the locker rooms, training facilities and meeting rooms. We went 2 years ago and got a bunch of great pictures and autographs.

Anyways, on the Houston Texans website (www.houstontexans.com) there's an article about the event:

http://www.houstontexans.com/community/Story.asp?story_id=4348

Man, they quoted me and Frankie!!

Too cool.

Man,
I have so much to write about...

Ashley's 15 was amazing. I'll be posting pictures as soon as we get them from the photographer. I can't wait to see the video and stuff!

This past Sunday was the last Texans game of the season. We had such a great time this year at the games. Sunday, I took Jasmine. My cousin Chris took his daughter Lexy and they asked if I could take Jazz.

I'm so glad I did.

We had such a great time. At the end of the game, we went to the front of the stadium for a post-game rally. Jasmine got Owen Daniel's autograph! We almost got Andre Johnson and Mario Williams, but we couldn't get them to stop.

Before we went to our seats, we stopped off at the "Free Picture" booth. Jasmine wanted to enter a drawing for "Fan of the Game".

This morning I got a call that she won! She won an autographed football by Anthony Weaver and had her picture posted on the Texan's Website.

http://www.houstontexans.com/fanzone/GridironTexas-2007-08-04.asp



Too cool.

Man!
It's been too damn long since I had a vacation!!

The last time I took a week off of work was when I had my surgery last year. So that doesn't count.

Saturday was our 6 year wedding anniversary.

So we spent the weekend at Coushatta in Louisiana. We went with another couple but it was still really nice. It was good to have some time to ourselves. We've really needed it.

Work has been so freaking busy over the last few months. We lost one our other assistant, then my boss got switched to another store, leaving me to run the ship solo for 2 months until we got a new manager. I did get some help for a few weeks, but then they sent him to open a new store across town.

It was really hectic for awhile there. It's really good to get back to some stability and have some of the weight lifted from my shoulders. The good thing is I was able to show that I'm capable of running a store by myself (which I already knew because I've done before in the past). Still, it was a good way to show the higher ups that when the time comes, I'll be ready.

And that's why spending the weekend with Laura was so important. She's been so supportive of my and my career lately and I know I've probably taken advantage of that more than I should have. It did put a strain on our relationship a bit. Even if it was only for a weekend, it was nice to have that time together...

So the rest of my vacation will be spent doing stuff around the house.

A couple of weeks ago, I built a dog house for Rocky. It's got wall to wall carpeting with cathedral ceilings and custom siding. Very pimpish. Now, I just need to put shingles on the roof and hook up a satellite dish for his High Definition TV. I told him we could get it through the cable company, but he INSISTS you can only get "TRUE HIGH DEFINITION" through satellite.

Whatever. He's so vain...

Ashley's "first date" came and went.

sigh...



She looked SO beautiful.

DAMN HER!!

I guess it all goes downhill from here...

Lots more pics are posted at:
http://fcarrera3.buzznet.com

So, March 31st was a special evening.

About 10 years or so ago, I was watching some talk show. You ever notice how every few years or so, there's a whole bunch of the same stuff on TV? I remember growing up, there was about 2 or 3 hours of game shows on before the ''good'' cartoons came on. The Price is Right (still my favorite), Win, lose or draw, Beat the Clock, Break the Bank, Card Sharks, Concentration, Classic
Concentration, Password
Password Plus, Super Password, Pyramid, Scrabble, Tic Tac Dough and Press Your Luck. Oh! Press your luck was my favorite!

''No whammies, no whammies, No whammies.....STOP!''
Then a whammie would hit and this retarded little cartoon gremlin would dance across the screen. Ha! That shit was crazy! Man, I haven't thought about Whammies in years!

Anyways, today, we see tons of ''reality shows''. Hogan knows best, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, I Love New York (the spin off to Flavor of Love), shit, even the Dice-man has his own show! Well, about 10 years ago, the big thing was talk shows. Oprah & Donahue had been around for while, but then a whole bunch of others started popping up. I think I was watching Montel or Geraldo. When I heard a man from the audience make a comment that really stuck with me.

They were talking about teenage girls & the issue of self confidence or something. This guy raises his hand to and whoever the host was goes over with the mic. The man said that when his daughter was 12, he took her out on her first date. He felt that it was important to be the one to take her out because it was a great way to show a young lady how a woman should be treated. Not only that, but to show her how she should carry herself in a dating situation.

Ashley was about 3 or 4 at the time. She was playing on the floor in front of me & I asked her, ''Hey mija, what do you think about that?''

''About wha' Daddy?''

''About going out on a date with me when you get older?''

She shrugged her shoulders as she brushed her Barbie's hair and said, ''Yeah...that would be o'tay. When? This week'en?''

''No. Just when your older.''

''Like next week'en?''

''No, a little older then that.''

''How old?''

''I don't know. I guess I'll tell you when you're ready.''

''O'tay...'' never looking up, just being busy with 3 year old type stuff.

But it was something that never left my mind. I just wasn't sure when the right time was.

She's going into high school next year. A couple of months ago, she called me all excited about the classes she'd registered for. Then, about 2 weeks later, the son of a friend of Laura's called me and asked if he could take Ashley to the ROTC Banquet.

He's a good kid in the 9th grade and is only a year older then her. I know his step-dad and Mom & they are good people. I asked him if he'd already ask Ashley & he said he'd mentioned it, but wanted to make sure it was okay with me before asking her.

Damn him!

Well played young man. Well played.

The thing was, I hadn't taken Ashley out on her ''first date'' yet!

So whether I was ready or not. The time was here.

She'd asked a few times over the years when we'd go on her date? If we were still doing it, did I forget?

I never forgot. And the time was here.

So I set a date. March 17th would be the day. That was the day for a few weeks until we realized she'd be at her Mom's for spring break. So we changed it to March 31st.

Laura took her shopping to get some nice clothes & get her nails done.

She looked so nice.

We went to Magic Island. It's a nice restaurant on the southwest side of Houston. They do a 45 minute magic stage show, then afterwards they have magicians doing close up slight of hand shows in small rooms. They also have a nice dance area with a DJ and drinks.

We talked during dinner. Nothing in particular, just stuff about people at school and HER life in general.

And it amazed me.

Here she was, no longer the little 3 year old playing with Barbies on the living room floor, but a young lady with her own thoughts, ideas and opinions. All I could do was listen and laugh.

After dinner when saw the shows and laughed some more. She put her hand in my arm as we left the theater and walked around looking at pictures and posters. From there we went to the dance area and listened to music while watching others make fools of themselves on the dance floor.

Not to be out done, I drug her to the dance floor to make a fool of my own self, thoroughly embarrassing the crap out of her.

It truly was a special evening. I hope it meant as much to her as it meant to me, as I'm sure it will.

It's a night I will always cherish.

The great thing is, I GET TO GO ON TWO MORE ''FIRST DATES''!



More pics posted at:
http://fcarrera3.buzznet.com/user/photos/recent/

So, March 31st was a special evening.

About 10 years or so ago, I was watching some talk show. You ever notice how every few years or so, there's a whole bunch of the same stuff on TV? I remember growing up, there was about 2 or 3 hours of game shows on before the ''good'' cartoons came on. The Price is Right (still my favorite), Win, lose or draw,

So, March 31st was a special evening.

About 10 years or so ago, I was watching some talk show. You ever notice how every few years or so, there's a whole bunch of the same stuff on TV? I remember growing up, there was about 2 or 3 hours of game shows on before the ''good'' cartoons came on. The Price is Right (still my favorite), Win, lose or draw,

I made a post at the Bullpen Messageboard about having this itch to draw stuff.

I love to draw. I'm not spectacular or anything, but it's fun to me. However, over the past year, I just haven't had the time to do it. Every couple of weeks or so, I doodle on the return box at work.



But after awhile, they get thrown away.

Here's a couple of ball point pen sketches I did last night.





Nothing spectacular. Just something to sooth the itch...

Man, this was a GREAT weekend for football!!

I LOVE the playoffs. (I'd love them even more if the Texans were in them...) I'm so glad to see the Saints in the NFC Championship game. I'm really pulling for them to go the distance. I saw on Sportscenter that in their 40 years in the NFL, this is their FIRST trip to the Championship. At this rate, I should be about 72 years old by the time the Houston Texans get to THEIR first Championship game!

So, anyway. I had to work on Sunday, so I recorded both games to watch after I got off work. After eating dinner, I plopped on the couch to watch the first game.

The Seattle Seahawks vs. The Chicago Bears!

Laura came and sat next to me. Every so often, she'll sit with me to watch whatever game is on, not really knowing who's who or what's what. I'll explain little bits of NFL Trivia to her, such as Shaun Alexander having broke his foot earlier in the season or Matt Hasselbeck having gotten hurt midway through the season too.

Around the end of the first quarter, Laura goes "Hey! David Hasselhoff plays for the Seattle Seahawks?!"

Without missing a beat I go, "Uh, yeah. Damn babe, he was only in the Superbowl last year. Where have YOU been?"

"Really? Man, I thought he'd be to old to still play football."

"No way. Why do you think he's so famous?"

Then my cousin Chris chimes in, "Yeah, you think all he's good for is Baywatch? He's still in his prime."

"No shit? " Then she really starts to get into the game because David Hasselhoff is quarterbacking for the Seahawks. "Man, that doesn't even look like him..."

Now, for about the next 10 or 15 minutes she's all into the game. "Oh dang!" when he completes a pass. Getting all down on him when he doesn't.

I couldn't take it anymore.

I lean over to Chris and say, "Dude, can you imagine her going to work and telling her coworkers, 'Man, I saw David Hasselhoff playing Sunday. He did pretty good!"

We cracked up laughing.

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing."

Then she catches her snap. "Man, I knew that wasn't David Hasselhoff. See, this is why I don't watch football with you..."

I was in tears. I hugged her. "Aw, babe. I was just teasing you. You make me laugh."

"Whatever. Jackass..."

Man, that was some funny shit.

David Hasselhoff and the Seattle Seahawks ended up losing in overtime.

Laura fell asleep on the couch around the end of the 3rd quarter.

Not much time to write, but I did post a bunch of new pics and videos over at my Buzznet thing.



http://fcarrera3.buzznet.com

Enjoy!

Damn,
my posts are getting further and further apart.

Why the lag in posting?

Because I've just been so fuggin' busy!

Early last month, I packed up my comics, my clothes and my family (that sounds weird...), and headed to Dallas for Wizard World Texas.

It was cool. Fun as always. I got a boatload of comics autographed but only one sketch. It took all weekend but it was worth it.



Frankie, Jazz and Lexy all got a bunch of great sketches. I even got Angie a sketch book as well. She only got 2, but it's a start.

After that, I've just been working and when not working, things around the house. That garage has been so damn disorganized. I took a day last week or so to go through all those boxes and just CLEAN UP. It took all day, but I finally made some sort of sense of it. While I was doing that, Laura put the Christmas tree up.

She's so awesome. This year's theme? THE HOUSTON TEXANS!



She even had the Texans logo airbrushed on our treeskirt.

This week we put up the lights around the house.

Last week was Frankie's 11th birthday.

We had a little something with a few of his friends, the kids and my nieces at the bowling alley. He wanted to go roller skating, but the rink is closed during the weekday. Which surprised the hell out of me. Luckily, Laura came up with the idea of going bowling.

Everyone had a great time.

Funny thing was, Tuesday nights are League nights. We got a little "rowdy" (well, actually the kids did.) The manager had to come over and ask us to quiet it down a bit. He was cool about it and apologized for having to even say anything. He even gave me a huge stack of free game passes for the next time we go!

Then there was also Thanksgiving.

Nothing spectacular, but a nice day with the family here in the new house. Lots of food and good football. The next morning, I braved the Early Bird Shoppers.

It was the first time I'd ever done that. Chris went with me and, wow, it was an experience. All I went for was a special on new bikes for the kids, and walked out with a little more then I'd planned.

It was really crazy to see the lines and crowds at Best Buy, Circuit City, and Walmart.

These people don't bullshit!

They take their shopping serious. And if you can't keep up, then man, you better get the hell out of their way!

The only way I can describe it is like this. Imagine a swarm of locust attacking a wheat field stacked with $50 portable DVD players, $35 Micro Gameboys and $4 toasters. The show lasted no more than 15 minutes.

It started right at 5am and by 5:20, all that was left were empty pallets.

It was badass.

I highly recommend going to check it out at least once.

No much of a blog update, but a few new pics have been posted:



http://fcarrera3.buzznet.com/user/photos/recent/

PLUS!

DRUNK HOMER!
http://fcarrera3.buzznet.com/user/video/

Sigh...

Tomorrow is this year's 24 Hour Comic book challenge Day. I attempted to meet the challenge last year and it was a TRIPPED OUT experience. There's pictures and posts about it somewhere around here, I'm just to lazy to post the link. Scroll back to April of last year to check it out.

This year, I just don't have the time. I requested too many Sunday's and weekends off lately for Texans Games and Wizard World Texas, so to ask for a weekend off for this probably would have been too much.

Plus, I didn't do anything to prepare for this. I haven't drawn anything lately and as you can see, haven't had much time to even post on my blog! So I just don't have the gas in me to run that 24 Hour Iron Man.

Which sucks, because I really wanted to give it a run this year.

That's also why I made that post about my 24 Hour drive to Dallas. I was going to do my 24 Hour Comic based on that experience.

Sure, I can probably still do a comic on it, but it won't be done in 24 Hours.

Special Shout Out to my boy, JM Hunter. He's probably getting geared up as I type this to make that run.

Good luck, Hunter! Keep those pencils sharpened and I'll see you on the other side!

Can't wait to see all the great stuff that gets turned out this year.

If possible, go to http://www.24hourcomics.com for more info on 24 Hour Comic Day and books published on work done in the past.

Jesus, I just FINISHED that last post about evacuating and Laura's birthday but when I first wrote it, I was only able to write half of it.

I just wrote the rest of it (but left the date the same).

Laura's party was awesome. We had a "Casino Night" theme, renting a Roulette table and poker table, as well as a guy to deal for us.

Jasmine had her prep classes last weekend for her big audition. On October 15th, she has an audition for Nickelodeon/Disney/MGM/Universal Studios/Paramount. Basically, her agency is having this thing where representative from most major studios are coming to see the kids Paige Parkes has. They'll do one or two auditions and if a studio likes them, they'll pick them up for Print Ads, Commercials or TV shows.

Jasmine was chosen along with about 10 other kids to go.

She's using a Welch's Commercial as her audition piece. She's got it down pretty damn good.

During her class, she was nervous. After seeing the other kids go through theirs, she started to loosen up. I was really proud of her.

I think she'll do okay. No matter what happens, I'm proud of her.

She amazes me everyday.

A year ago to this day, we were serving breakfast at my cousin Chris' house for about 40 Hurricane Rita refugees.

We were recovering from a 24 hour drive. Normally, it takes about 5 hours to drive from Houston to Dallas. But when you have over 3 million people trying leave at the same time, traffic can get a little backed up...

The day we left, I had to work. That morning we got the call to board up the store, get things secured and to go home. We spent the rest of the day getting my house secured. We packed up everything we felt was most important to us, boarded up the windows with what little lumber I was able to round up and got ready for the drive of a lifetime.

We decided to leave around midnight, thinking traffic would be a little less hectic (WRONG), but just as we were ready to leave, my mom got a call that my uncle ran into some problems.

He tried to make the drive to Dallas on his own, but panicked after being stuck in traffic for 4 hours. He just couldn't take it, turned around, and went home. His home was directly in the path of where Hurricane Rita was predicted to make landfall. Traffic was so bad, he'd rather weather a Category 3 hurricane then drive in that shit!

Mom was upset.
''Mijo, can he come with us?''

''Mom, we don't have much room.''

''He's my brother, Mijo. We can't just leave him there. Can we make room for him? Maybe your brother can drive his car there?''

''Let me talk to Nando...''

Fernando and I discussed it. He was frustrated though. He was ready to leave and felt we needed to leave NOW. The longer we waited, the longer we would be stuck in that traffic. News reports showed it getting worse and worse.

''I know, man. But he's our uncle...''

''Fuck...I know.''

''Mom won't be right the whole way up there if we leave him behind.''

''Yeah. Look, we ain't driving all the way over there. He's going to have to meet us or something. We wait an hour, after that, we gotta go,man.''

It took about 2 hours, but we waited anyways.

The next 24 hours were the longest 24 hours of my life.

By 6am, we'd barely made it across town.

I can't explain how many people were on the freeway at the same time. Going NOWHERE. There was one point when we were behind this guy in a little Nissan pickup truck. This guy was driving by himself and to save gas, he was PUSHING his truck up the freeway!

The crazy thing is, HE KEPT UP WITH TRAFFIC!

He stood outside the driver side, puffing on a cigarette. As the car in front of him inched forward, he gave his little truck a push. He must have done this for about 3 hours. It had to be the craziest thing I'd ever seen.

After stopping for gas (which was becoming scarce), Freddy decided to take the lead and try hitting some back roads. With my other brother Arthur in the middle and me bringing up the rear of our 3 vehicle caravan, we bulldogged our way through traffic.

Anytime we had to cut someone off to jump into a lane, I'd let them creep ahead a little. Then, I'd cut a car off (usually pissing them off) and would just wait there, letting the cars in front of me creep ahead. When there was enough room, Nando and Arthur would cut into the lane. We did this a million times, pissing off all kinds of people.

3 millon vehicles out on the roads and we never lost each other...

It was tough making phone calls, because most calls wouldn't go through, but text messages did.

So we'd text each other, to make sure no one was falling asleep.

I also text messaged a few coworkers who were also braving the highway, trying to make it to Dallas. Not all of them made it, either. We lost a few here and there all along I-45. They either ran out of funds, or couldn't find anyplace with gas. I wished them luck and kept moving.

Around 4pm that evening, we finally found a town with some food in it. Imagine, stopping off somewhere and there not being ANY food in the store. Or pulling up to a fastfood restaurant, only to find a sign that says "OUT OF FOOD".

Insane.

We found a Sonic that was still open and ate like we'd been on the road for 16 hours. We looked at the map before getting on the road and Dallas just looked so far away. I could see the worry in Arthur's face. He would later tell me, "Frank, I never would have made it if I hadn't been with ya'll. When I saw that map and saw how far Dallas was, I was scared, man. I was ready to give up, but you guys wouldn't. You guys knew we were going to make it and I had no choice but to stay with ya'll."

Those words always stuck with me.

I knew we still had a long way to go, but never doubted if we would make it or not. As crazy as it was and as tough as it was mentally, it was probably one of the proudest moments of my life.

4 brothers, sticking together, getting their families out of harms way.

When we finally arrived to my cousin Chris' house a little after 2am (just over 24 hours after we'd left), all we could do was hug each other.

We'd made it.

Exhausted, a little stinky, but we'd made it.

Ashley and Frankie had left with their mom to Laredo and made it as well. Everyone was safe.

Some of my other cousins were already there and a few more showed up the next day. In all, there was about 40 people staying at Chris'.

And we had a blast.

We made breakfast for all the kids, drank beer in Chris' garage and had the 1st ever Hurricane Rita All-Madden Tournament.

Somehow, we ended up with 4 Playstations at Chris' house. Everyone left something behind, but we'd be DAMNED if we were leaving the Playstation behind! We made a bracket sheet as well as a loser's bracket. We drew names to start the tournament off and everyone played throughout the day.

Freddy took home the gold, beating Nando.

Laura's birthday is today (9/25/06), we spent her 25th birthday at Chris'. It was a makeshift little party, but we were together.

This year, I am so glad we are in the new house. So she can have the party she really wanted and so richly deserves.

Happy birthday, babe.

I love you.

That's the only way to describe this whole situation...

The house is ready. We finished moving everything out the house yesterday. The buyer came to pick up the keys this morning and will be moving in next week.

But our stuff is sitting in the u-haul waiting to be moved.

Everyday this week, it's been something else that the Lenders need. Friday, they needed us to sign off that the house was ready. It is.

Nothing happend over the weekend. So we spent that time moving our stuff out.

Monday, we were supposed to close. Then at around 2:30, they called to say they needed all our updated bank statements and 401k statements. LUCKILY, i keep those out of the boxes just in case. I had a feeling we might be needing them. I rushed to one of the T-Mobile stores close to our house and faxed it over.

Tuesday, we finished what little else we had in the house. The night before we slept on our mattresses and kept only the bare necessities in the house. We called every hour or so to see where we were at with the closing and were told everything was still being processed.

Then, around 2:30 again, they called and said they needed the BACKS to some of the statements we'd sent them the day before! I. Was. Pissed.

Why the fuck couldn't they have told us that after I sent them the first statements?! (I hadn't even realized the statements even HAD a back page, so I guess that was my fault, too.)

I really fucked up by then taking it out on Laura.

We got into this stupid arguement about really nothing. I shouldn't have raised my voice at her the way I did. It's not her fault and I know that...

So we rush over and fax them what they need, then wait some more.

We ended up spending the night at Freddy's place. Again, with all our stuff sitting in the driveway of the old house. Before we left the old house, I tried to back the truck up close to the house (just in case someone got curious.)

Wouldn't you know it, the battery was dead...

So typical.

This morning, we meet up with the man who bought our old house. We gave him the keys and he was nice enough to let us keep the truck in the driveway. Like I said, he's not moving in until next week anyways, so he's in no hurry. The U-haul people came out and gave us new batteries for the truck. (Surprisingly, they were a bit bigger than your regular AA batteries. These had to be at least ZZ batteries. They were fuckin' HUGE!)

Before heading to the meet Mr. Tristan, we got a call from the Mortgage Company. They need some more stuff from the Bank. By this point, it's whatever. We went to the bank to the what they needed and faxed that to them.

They called a little while ago with an update. Which was basically we're still waiting.

I seriously doubt it'll happen today.

What sucks is that it's costing us $40/day for the U-haul truck to be sitting there in the driveway like that. On top of that, I have to go back to work tomorrow. That's going to make moving the stuff in even that more complicated.

FRUSTRATION...

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that Id like to do
Is to save every day
Till eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
Id save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
Ive looked around enough to know
That youre the one I want to go
Through time with

Jesus, Grandma passed away 2 weeks ago and I haven't had time to write any ANYTHING.

If it's not work, it trying to sell this house. Now that we've sold it, it's been a matter of packing stuff up.

Then school started on Thursday, so early this week was spent getting last minute things the kids needed for school. On top of that, we are going by the new house, making sure every last detail is correct.

Don't get me wrong, the builders have be AMAZING. But there's just so much stuff that needed tweaking, repainted, or modified.

Today, I went to rent the U-Haul to start loading up all our things.

We can't move in until Monday (hopefully), but I at least want anything we don't need RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW loaded up. That way, come Monday afternoon, all we have to do is grab that last minute stuff and drive off.

I got a truck big enough to carry everything in one load. Hopefully. I doubt it will work out that way...

I'm so fuckin' tired...

I spent the day getting the truck, running errands, picking up Jazz from school and going by the new house.

When I got home, they called to say the house was ready for it's FINAL WALKTHROUGH.

It took about an hour, but everything looked A-Okay.

I've loaded most of what I could by myself (beds, boxes and comics). Jesus, I have WAY too many freakin' comics.

NINETEEN LONG BOXES!

Plus the shelving rack I hold them on.

Insane...

After loading up a few other odds and ends, I called it a night.

Tomorrow, I'll have no time to do much of anything. I work 7-1, then I meet up with Freddy to go to the Texans Game.

Yeah, yeah. I know I have this house to move, but damnit, it's the Texans and we bought Season Tickets for a fuckin' reason!

I'm taking Sunday off, to get everything loaded up. Nando, Freddy and Dad will be helping me (hopefully), so we should be able to knock it out in a day.

There's really no much left. A few dressers, our bed, few boxes, our clothes, the washer and dryer, the fridge, Frankie's bed, and the living room stuff.

Damn...

That's alot of shit....



But it's gonna be worth it.

Filomena S. "Nena" Garcia died on Wednesday, July 26, 2006, at home with her beloved family after a long and courageous battle with diabetes.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10 a.m., Saturday, July 29, 2006, at St. Mary of the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church in Texas City. Burial will follow at Grace Memorial Park in Hitchcock. Visitation will be from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. Friday at Emken-Linton Funeral Home. A Rosary will be recited at 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.

Nena was born July 21, 1929, in Galveston, Texas, to Jim and Esperanza Molleda and was raised by her godparents, Pancho and Lucinda Solis, owners of Bluebird Grocery Store. She graduated from Ball High School and married the love of her life, Edward J. Garcia, Sr., in 1947, in McAllen, Texas.

Our mother, Nena, was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 53 years, Edward J. Garcia Sr.; her parents, Jim and Esperanza Molleda; and her brother, Israel Garza, of California.

Nena has worked for many years at Pick N Pay, Little Chief, Big Chief, and was supervisor at College Park Nursing Home in La Marque until her retirement.

She is survived by her loving sons Eddie J. Garcia, Jr. and his wife Julie, Elias J. Garcia, Sr. and wife Alice and Charles Garcia and wife Shannon; her loving daughters Delores and husband Joe Ortiz, Lucinda and Yolanda G. Carrera of Houston, Texas.

She is also survived by her brothers Juan Lopez of Monterrey, Mexico and Ben Acosta and wife Rita of Galveston; her sister Virginia Rebulioso of California; her sister-in-law Ana-Marie Garza of California; also, her beloved sisters-in-law that she so loved, Emma Garza, Kikie Herrera and Ben, Alice Luna and husband Johnny, and also Maura Balli, Teresa Ruiz, Sara Luna and Paul, Corina Luna and Eula Luna; and her extended family members we so love are Rudolph Garcia, George Garcia, Richard Garcia, Albert Garcia, Angie Steele, Vicki Garcia and Geraldine Garcia.

Her loving grandchildren include, Duane Eddy Garcia, Donnell Garcia, Sr., Nicole Grimm, Frank Carrera III, Fernando Carrera and Fredrick Carrera, Eddie Munoz, Jr., Edmond Munoz, Edwin Munoz, Elisha Munoz and J. R. Rodriguez, Cynthia Burnette, Bonnie Campos, Raquel Edwards, Maria Cayard, Amy Garza, Jason Garcia, Jody Garcia, and Elias J. Garcia, Jr., Crystal Garcia and Taylor Garcia, and the most precious of all---her 35 great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be her grandsons: Duane Eddy Garcia, Frank Carrera III, Eddie Munoz, Edmond Munoz, Jason Garcia, and Elias J. Garcia, Jr. Honorary pallbearers are her great-grandsons: Frank Carrera IV, Eddie Munoz III and Donnell Garcia, Jr., all of her grandkids and great-grandkids.

Special thanks to Dr. Kilowich and Dr. Barnum and their staff at UTMB. Also, to LaShawn Ritchie and Jacqueline Marcus and to the staff at A-Med Hospice.


Emken-Linton Funeral Home

Published July 28, 2006

Way back when I first started this blog, I wrote this story:

...April 16, 1974 was also the 27th anniversary of the Texas City explosion. What importance did that particular event have that it warrants a new paragraph, you ask? It was on that day that my grandfather went to work at the port in Texas City. It was on that day that he was among the 3000+ wounded and his brother was among the 600+ dead. That day they sent him to a hospital and he met a nurse there. Being the stud Mexican he was, he must have been hitting on the cute nurse tending to him. They get to talking and come to find out, she was the daughter of a lady his mother knew. The nurse was 10 yrs his younger and she was just a little kid when they first met. He?d drive his mother to her mother?s store in Sugarland. He drove her there because he was a good son and didn?t want her driving by herself (and there was a beer joint next door?)

So they start seeing each other. 27 yrs later their 6th grandchild was born...

Grandma passed away yesterday. Services are this weekend, so after everything is done, I'll come back and post more. I have a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head.

Nothing but good thoughts, though.

Thank you Grandma.

For everything you were.