Bless
This Mess

On the back of this plaque it says:
IF FOUND: DELIVER TO
Jakob.......

My mom had it as far back as I can remember. She was 52 when she left us. Can't confirm. If I had to guess, it's pushing70 Years OldIt has moved more times than most people move in a lifetime. And every single kitchen it was in — it watched over us.

We weren't a perfect family. We were a loud one. A messy one. A wild one. The kind where family is shelter from the storm, and sometimes they are the storm. But we were tight, as in,6 Years & 1 Month Between UsTIGHTThe one constant across 5 decades, we always had each other's back. That never changed.

Paul called it as he seen it. That's the kind of man Paul was. He didn't just show up. He showed everyone what showing up looked like.

My son Jakob Roger Paul Doucette, born 2 weeks premature, on Paul's birthday, 2 months after he passed.

Paul was a beast on the football field. #85. I have all the clippings from the newspaper articles after game day. When I showed Jakob a pic of Paul winning Athlete of the Year in '95, his response:

"Damn, that's a grown ass man right there."

I made his team make a jersey with the #85. Go figure, Jakob would lead the league in sacks and make the Nationals.

I realized months ago that if you add up Mine, Jake's, Paul's and my Mom's birthdays —You Get #85