When I first started dating Echo, Deb would never call me by my name to her. If Echo told her mom on the phone she was going somewhere, the following question from Deb was sure to follow: "Is 'that boy' going?" Eventually our relationship grew to a first name basis, but she kept me on my toes from day one. It is an honor to be her son-in-law.If you look up the word sassy in the dictionary, her beautiful picture should be right next to it. I never was too familiar with the term 'sassy' until I started dating Echo. She used that term quite a lot, but once I met her mom, I understood why. I'm sure Deb had a long list of successful practical jokes throughout her life, but I believe she perfected her craft on me. She once placed an ad in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal about a monkey for sale, with my phone number on it. Who knew all of Lubbock county and every other surrounding county would inquire about this monkey? Well, I know now. While trying to work in San Antonio, my phone rang every 15 seconds or so. My voicemail was exhausted within an hour….and the phone just kept ringing. Finally, I got the idea to change my voicemail message and said, "if you are inquiring about the monkey, please contact Deb @ …. I tried to call her several hours later, but she had shut down her phone. The joke wasn't quite as fun to her once she got bombarded by the phone calls also. She really expected me to get a random phone call or two about a monkey, but it turned into hundreds of them. But in true sassy form, when the Avalanche Journal called her to see if this ad was legit (after many complaints from west Texas monkey shoppers) she assured them it was real. She was going down with the ship!There was also the time she had her friend called me from a private cell phone and told me he worked for Mastercard and someone was at Doc's Liquor store in Lubbock, trying to buy $1,000 worth of booze on my Spurs Mastercard. You see, Deb knew my wallet had been stolen fairly recently. Even though I had cancelled that card, I spent the next 30 min. trying to get a hold of Mastercard to check on the status of this 'investigation'. Yes, I was once naive, and like a lion who senses which gazelle is the weakest one in the pack, Deb could smell the innocent ignorance on me and feasted on it. I learned to take a good joke and admit when I had been beaten badly, though I know I didn't do it graciously every time. I also probably never admitted to it for a year or so after each joke.Deb did not care too much to think about herself as a grandmother 6 years ago. She was extremely excited, but the term grandmother would never do. She coined herself 'mad dog', and Mad Dog is what she became. Her bond with her first granddaughter was special. I still remember watching her walk hand in hand with Claire as they walked into the airport together for claire's first trip away from home without Mom or Dad. When her grandson Reagan was learning to talk, he called her Gagu because he couldn't say Mad Dog. Echo and I tried to get that to stick because that sass had rubbed off on us after years of training but it came to no avail….Mad Dog had been created and there was no derailing it. Claire, Reagan, and Hannah lit up her face each time she saw them and could melt the sassiness for the length of most visits. However, I'm sure she was cooking up a good practical joke for Reagan once he became old enough to be had. If the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, she would have had a field day with him for a while ??The other term that defines Deb though is 'class'. Life seemed to throw curve balls her way throughout her entire life. This process of life I believe made her put guards up on who she could trust. Once she found her true friends, her class was soon revealed to them. (myself included in that list) The word trendy would be an understatement for Deb. She could see art in anything I would consider scrap. She delighted in the finer things in life, but really enjoyed those finer things most if she created them herself.