Mom put her new camera to good use. Check out the pictures she took.



Jack helped out with the XMKiDs broadcast from the new roller coaster. He supplied facts about Disney World on the air and helped produce the programming. I was very proud of him.



Being in Disney World was great, and being there with my friends from work, Mindy, Kenny and Jim made it even more special.



This is Mindy, Jack and me on the new roller coaster. It is called Expedition Everest.



Jack got to meet some of the stars from the shows on the Disney channel on TV. He was very psyched and I was excited for him.



Joe LOVED the characters. He wasn't scared of them. He was very into Chip and Dale. I didn't know which was Chip and which was Dale. Joe got their autographs about 20 times. We went to the same character meals that you liked so much. Remember how frightened Jack was of the characters. Remember when Tigger chased him down.



Mom may have had the most fun of all. I think she felt good watching Jack and Joe enjoy themselves so much.



As for me, I thought it might be hard to go back to Disney World for the first time without you. It wasn't. We had a lot of fun.

I thought about you at different spots in the park where we were together on previous trips. You were very sick when we were there last, and I remembered a lot of that. I think our best trip must have been the one when we went there with Make-A-Wish. Mom met a girl today at Johns Hopkins Hospital who is going with her family to Italy through Make-A-Wish. That'll be something.

Last night I took home this really cool truck we have here at work. I wanted to surprise Jack with it. I pulled up in front of the house and got Jack to come out and look. He said it was the "neatest thing ever." Mom and Joe came out and we all drove it around to the alley to park.



I planned on taking Jack to school in the XM truck. I knew he would really like that. Jack's reaction to it took me back to when I had a similar experience when I was your and Jack's age. One day my Grandpa Nat, you never knew him, showed up at our house in a Red Cross emergency vehicle with the lights flashing and the siren blaring. He drove that all the way from Brooklyn, New York to our house in Bethesda, Maryland. He was a Red Cross volunteer. I thought that truck was the neatest thing ever.

What didn't register in my brain last night was that Jack has no school today. Tonight is Rosh Hashanah. So at 9 pm last night Jack and I took a ride to drop the truck back at XM. Jack brought along the Michael Jordan Space Jam DVD. He was really excited about the DVD player that dropped down from the ceiling. When we got to my office we sat together in the backseat watching the movie. All that was missing was popcorn. After a while we went in to the building in search of pens. Jack found a nice purple XM pen for Mom and grabbed a gold color one for himself. Jack explained that he chose gold because your favorite colors were silver and gold. When I was a little boy, Pop Pop Teddy would bring home these black ballpoint pens from his work that said "U.S. Government" or something like that on them. I really loved those pens. Not sure why; but I did. I am psyched that pens from dad's office are a big deal for Jack just like they were a real treat for me. You loved pens, too. We have great light up ones. I bet I would have been on the moon if Pop Pop Teddy ever came home with a pen that lit up.

When we made our way to my part of the office Jack checked out two big photos of you that I have sitting on my desk. He said he liked them a lot. There is one of you when your were 3 or 4 years old before the transplant. You are wearing a Batman costume. The other is of you when you were 5 years old. Norman took it at the beach. You are wearing a Batman shirt. In the "before" transplant picture you are smiling and adorable. In the "after" picture you look beat up and intense. Jack looked at the pictures and said, "You know, Henry was very brave." I made sure to point out to Jack the photo of him and Mom that I have on my desk.

Jack talked a lot about you with me last night. That felt good. I wonder why he is more open. I did notice something interesting the other day. Jack and I had special "Jack and Dad" time together. I wanted to ride bikes in Rock Creek Park, but we ended up going to his favorite place, the zoo. When we got there he reached out and grabbed my hand to hold. I realized he did this because he was so happy. I am glad we didn't ride bikes. Lately, he has been really good about saying he loves me and holding hands and all that kind of stuff. I know I don't have much time left before he gets too old for that. I am soaking it all in while I can.

After we finished our XM pen scavanger hunt we went downstairs to the studios. Jack went "on air" on the Absolutely Mindy show on XMKiDs. He shared with Mindy and her listeners some of his whale expertise. Jack told Mindy how he wants to have his own show some day. We got home really late. It was 10:30 p.m. and Jack was zonked. So was I.

So Henry, you see how once again I am DriverMan, the superhero behind the wheel.

Dear Henry:

Today is Father's Day. We saw Pop Pop Teddy at breakfast and Papa Sy at dinner. It was nice to see them. Mom told me that she understands that we are never going to have the "whole family" here for anything ever again.

Mommy and Jack and Joe and I went to the big boy park for a little while in the afternoon. I sat on the bench and leaned over and cleared the leaves and sticks of the brick in the ground that says, "We love Dad, Henry & Jack." For a while I just sat and watched Jack and Joe play. Jack was on the swings and went really high. Then I looked over at the field and watched the older boys play baseball. I hope all the dads watching their sons were proud of them.

After we finished at the park and ate some ice cream, Jack came with me to my office. He was on the Absolutely Mindy show on XM Kids for about an hour. Jack talked about birds and Uncle Stinky and the end of school. He was a little shy at first and then he felt more comfortable and had a lot of fun. You should have seen him talking. He would use his hands when he spoke. It was beautiful.





It is bedtime. Mom just tucked in Jack. As Mom was getting ready to leave, Jack told her that he had the most exciting day ever. He said that was because he saw an adult centipede, he made a paper mache volcano, he was on the radio, he has only four days of school left and it's Father's day.

It was an exciting day for me, but you know how sad it was, too. You made me a father. You also made me a good father. I love you for that.

Kisses,

Dad

p.s. Thanks for the shirt that you and Jack and Joe gave me.