I wrote this last Thursday, but I didn't get a chance to put it on here for you.
What an interesting day. I think I told you early last week that I wasn't feeling so great. I went to the doctor today and Mom took Jack to his doctor because he wasn't feeling great either. I was on my way to Morgan's to pick up my medicine when Mom happened to call me in the car to let me know that Jack had a prescription called in there too. As it turned out we were getting the same antibiotic. A happy coincidence, I guess. Whenever I think of drugs I think of you. It is hard not to. It was such a big part of our lives.
When I was waiting for the prescriptions to be filled Barry asked me how I was doing. I hadn't seen him for a really long time. Without thinking about it I just answered, "you know." And Barry said, "No, I don't know." But you know what, he really did. Let me explain. I said, "We're sad." And then he said to me that he knows what it is like to lose a child. I was a bit shocked. I never knew.
Barry said that his son died six years ago. His son was twenty-two. Barry then told me that he thinks about him every second of every minute of every day. When he told me this his eyes looked like my eyes and his face looked like my face. He told me that when he thinks of his son he remembers him when he was a little boy, not the grown up he had become. I felt so sad for him. I now understand why he was so affected by your death.
You know something pretty cool. The Twins are in the playoffs.
I still have the awesome bats the players gave you. They're leaning right next to my side of the bed. One day you were going to be big enough to use them to swing for the fences. Mom was invited by the National Marrow Donor Program to come back to Minneapolis for a meeting next month. I think I might go with her. It will be strange being back where you died almost one year later. It may be good for me. I was reading Thursday Thoughts from school this week and there was a notice about the 2nd Annual JPDS Book Fair. All of a sudden I remembered the 1st Annual. It was the night before you and I left for Minnesota. I bought you a bunch of Star Wars game and puzzle books for the plane trip. I went to the bookfair alone with Jack so we could spend a little time together before we'd be apart. Actually, I didn't ever think you and I would be gone for too long. We were just going for a quick visit for the doctors to fine tune your medications. Boy, was I wrong.
If I go with Mom I am sure we'll stop by all of our old favorite places, like toy store and bookstore in Lake Harriet, and of course the Mall of America. There was a story in the Wall Street Journal newspaper yesterday about the Mall of America. It is 10 years old now, just a little older than you. This is what the writer said,
Better to spend one's money at Al's Farm Toys (W370), the best store in the whole place. It is filled with tiny, exact replicas of farm machines made by John Deere and CAT, such as Tractor with 590 Round Baler, or a Land O' Lakes long-haul semi. They even have socks with small green tractors embossed on them.
That is the store where I bought Papa Sy the sign for the garage in St. Michaels that says, "Farmall Tractor Parking Only."
