.

i'm figuring you'll prolly never read this... i mean, you wrote this back in '06 and here i am just now reading it in 2010, but i still wanted to write...and letcha know how much i loved it... what you wrote, i mean. this... addendum... to their story.

there's not much that brings me to tears, but planetgal471, you did it.

and for once in my life, i don't mind.

so, thank you.

and btw, you write very well. very eloquent & clear. i admire that.

you spin a good yarn. hell, it's held up damn good for 4 years!

best regards -

brian

.

Damn. The most honest depiction of life I've ever read.

An impressively written cast of well-rounded characters. Lovely characterizations; Lureen has always been a fascinating yet inscrutable persona to me, and you had me pleasantly surprised at her complexity as well as your heartfelt portrayal of Randy. I won't bother mentioning how much I love Bobby.

You kept me holding on to this story through all the chapters, even though I don't prefer multi-chaptered fics about Ennis "moving on" after Jack. Even in spite of all the awkward moments. Or maybe because of them. You see, so many fanfics write dialogue like movie scripts-witty, effortless, and rehearsed. It's frustrating, seeing as there are times when one just doesn't know what to say, much less express oneself eloquently. The character interaction here was painfully and beautifully natural.

Ending was a little disappointing, but probably truer to the story than anything my quixotic mind was expecting. No embellishments, just life going on in the peculiar way it has. While it cheers me up to read alternate universe fics where Jack doesn't die and things end up working out all right, this story brought me closure where nothing else really did. Thank you.

Oh, and I don't think I'll ever look at tulips the same way again.

I love the part about Lureen giving Ennis Jack's truck and his parking it right out front. He finally stopped trying to put Jack in a hidden-away compartment, even if that came too late for the two of them. Nice finish, too, with the two families meeting. There's a lot said in some simple images in this story: the truck, Bobby's eyeglasses, and especially poor always-hopeful Jack's plans for the cabin. Beautifully done.

Wow, this one bout tore me up - think that Ennis would have been really happy to have Bob there though - glad to see that they had kept in contact apparently.

Did have a few laughs on the end there concerning the children -life goes on.

Maybe now Jack and Ennis are together. Thanks for a great story. Hope you continue to write. Thanks again.

This one was kinda sad in the beginning - but -yes I think it pretty well describes Lureen - how least to how I think she would have been.

Glad that Ennis took the truck - a little something to help him remember Jack back with the rest.

Think it would be great if Bobby visited Ennis from time to time and learned a little more about his father though.

I really do love this. I love the warmth and caring they all show each other. And the way Ennis is "parenting" Bobby is wonderful.

I hope you'll keep them together for a while more!

Thanks!

Wow, hard to believe Ennis could get so many words out - bet Jack would have been proud of him.

You know every chapter I keep hoping that Jack will appear - that their had been some kinda mistake and that Laureen had mis-identified him but I don't know how you write that up unless Jack was hurt in another accident about the same time and was left in a coma or with memory loss. Long shot, I one has to have hope. LOL

This is painful, and eager, and lovely. I don't know where you're headed, but I like the direction you're going.

“The girls,” they said. - God, even though I knew it was coming, that still hit like a freight train. Oi. / The word, love, fell off his mind’s tongue without a hitch, - I love that you wrote that. I think even after Jack's gone it would still catch a little bit in his mind, because it's not a part of his regular thought patterns. / “Twist, I been interested in your business longer than’s good for me.” - I like this exchange, I could really hear them saying it. / His chief problem in life was that everyone kept on loving him long after they should have given up. - Poor Ennis :( / Gah, the last line is so sad, too. Damn, girl, you tryin' a kill me here? I'm very curious to see where this is going, the Ennis/Bobby dynamic is a strange one, to say the least, lol :)

Oh the angst!

"Jack and Ennis might not fit together like a man and a woman, their lives might not fit together like a man and a wife, but they’d found their way of fitting, and they should have taken it, forced their lives to fit together." - Aghh. *wibbles* That's pure genius, right there. *runs off to next chapter*

Very well done! I hope you continue it, with more about Jack's life in Texas, what's in those boxes. The part about Ennis finding those plans was especially touching.

Nice treatment of Randall, too. He too often gets short shrift in these fanfics.

"But he certainly was one of her best friends, and his death had been hard on her, his manner of passing more so." - GAH, this line is so true. So Lureen. /

"...everything separate. They shared a teenaged boy." *wibbles* I never really looked at it that way, but that is really the only thing they share, isn't it? /

"...thinking it was normal for men to keep each other's post cards?" I think this is a perfect example of the little things that Lureen probably noticed over the years, but never really connected the dots. Lovely detail. /

"She'd been real deaf, then, self-imposed." - That's such a Proulx line, I love it. /

"...half expected someone to pop out of the bushes to beat the crap out of him before he could make it to the door." - LOL! Sad, but also funny :) /

"...like he was asking permission to be Ennis del Mar." I LOVE this line, that's so Ennis, I could imagine it perfectly. /

"...like he was being born a second time." Okay, this chapter officially pwns at metaphors and comparisons. _ *runs off to read next chapter*

My heart about broke when I read the part about Jack labeling a cabin's rooms for him and Ennis and then the part where Jack's name is on the wall - if only it was all a mistake and he was still alive...

simply amazing. This is too good. Please continue...