Joe has told both Mom and Nana separately that he is no longer to be called any nicknames, like Jo-Jo. He is Joe. Nothing else. Your little brother is growing up.

This is the last week of school. Joe is going to graduate from Pre-K and will be a kindergartner next fall. Jack will go into Fifth Grade.

Mom and I were at school last night for a meeting. I read your plaque start to finish. It said you entered school in Kindergarten and you were in First Grade when you died.

I haven't written you for a long time. I just keep talking to you in my head and writing these notes on scraps of paper that I have all over the place.

I finally decided it was time to get back to it. Here goes.

We went to St. Michaels this weekend for Memorial Day. It was Papa Sy's 77th birthday.



Andrew and Tracy and your cousins were there. Our friends Hugh and Mary Beth and their family rented a house nearby and spent a lot of time with us. Nice.

We did the usual stuff. Rode bikes, played baseball, saw a lot of animals, went kayaking (just me -- no-one ever wants to go with me -- I am officially "Chopped Liver"), put boats in the water and stuffed ourselves silly.

This snake was on the driveway when we came home from riding our bikes into town. He was "sunning" himself. Joe and Sam and I watched him until he slithered away.



This is a bird that Joe and I found in the batting cage at the local St. Michael's high school. We couldn't hit 'cause we didn't want to hit the bird.



The bird wasn't moving. He didn't seem like he could or that he wanted to fly. I opened up the netting to let him out and he didn't budge. It was then that I realized that the bird was staying inside the batting cage for protection.

I told Nana about the bird and she said she had a friend who "rescues" birds. I went back later on to put the bird in a box to bring to Nana's friend and the bird had died. When Joe was going to bed that night I asked him what the highlight of the day had been. He said, "the bird." I didn't have the heart to tell him what had happened.



This is a really blurry picture of the Vice President's helicopter over Papa Sy's house. I recognized the whirr of the rotors from home. His helicopter is the only thing that can fly over our house in DC and the house in St. Michaels.

The Vice President gave a talk to the soldiers graduating West Point in the morning and by the afternoon he was in St. Michaels. Mom said that he lands at the Inn at Perry Cabin and then drives up to his house. I still want to get the ride from our street in Washington to here in the helicopter. No traffic!



Uncle Andrew and I helped Papa Sy put the Tashmoo in the water. The battery was dead so I had to paddle it to the dock. We got Rulen the Waves in halfway. It is a great adventure helping Papa Sy with all of these boats. We needed a higher tide to carry the sailboat off the trailer. I felt bad leaving Papa Sy without having gotten that boat all the way in.



The pool was freezing but that didn't stop your brothers and your cousins. I was in the Broad Creek a bit and that was fine. A lot of muck and ooze but no jelly fish, so I was happy. Joe looks pretty happy here.



Tonight is Michael's birthday. He is 13. A real teenager or a Jewish man, take your pick. His other grandparents, Arlene and Harvey, are having a pool party at their house tonight. We'll be seeing everyone all over again.

Some of the notes I am keeping are just things that I want to tell you about your brothers. Here goes:





-Every morning I find an entire playground's worth of wood chips in Joe's sneakers. For the life of me I don't know how he walks around like that all day and doesn't seem to notice or complain.

-Jack did incredibly well on his tests in school. He is really smart. I am proud of him. He is way smarter than me. Yesterday he started telling me that he thinks about what happens in different dimensions. I don't even know what other dimensions there are. He explained to me that there are other universes and he thinks about what those other universes are like.



-Joe has decorated his room in pictures of athletes that he has cut out of magazines and books.

-Your brothers, both of 'em, won't wear jeans.

-Joe has the bad habit of admiring his hits in baseball. Mom explains that he is the only player who turns triples into singles because he stands at the plate after he hits the ball to watch how far it goes. He reminds me a bit of Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox.



-Jack is a big fan of comedy. He listens to Steve Martin, Bill Cosby and Monty Python.



-Joe isn't big on learning to swim or ride a bike. This frustrates me a lot but I know it is only a matter of time. Patience. He can't go through life not knowing how to ride a bike, right?

-Both guys and Mom became fans of this show called American Idol. Joe was crushed when his favorite, a guy named Blake, didn't win.

-Jack watches the Simpsons... maybe too much. The Simpsons Movie is coming out soon.



-Joe watches SportsCenter all the time. Our routine is that he comes down for breakfast and we watch the highlights together. He always asks me "Who won," and I try to teach him to read the scores and learn for himself.

-Jack had a ceremony at school where he and his classmates got their own Chumashim. What was interesting for me is that when the whole class was singing I could hear Jack's voice separate from everyone else. I guess that is what being a parent is.



-Joe is obsessed with jigsaw puzzles. He went from ones with a few pieces, to 100 pieces to 200 pieces and I think he is working on a 500 piece one. Mom helps him out, but he is good on his own.

-Jack likes the Red Sox and Joe is a Yankees fan (I am rooting for the Nats and wish they would too)

So I guess what I want to report to you Big Brother, is that your two younger brothers are doing great. Jack needs to be a little nicer to Joe but otherwise, they're cool.

Aside from Mom's trip to China... here are some pictures from that...













...there is other big news that I didn't report. First, Zhenny left us. She wasn't working enough hours, so she needed to go to a family who needed her more often. You were the one who told me to hire Zhenny. I still remember calling her from Minnesota to tell her that we were coming home without you. She had only been working with us for a few weeks at that point. That was hard. We are going to miss her - Joe most of all. They have an incredibly close bond and Joe is so tight with her husband Peter and her son Jeff. Hopefully, Zhenny can come over to babysit from time to time.

The other really, really big news is that Papa Teddy is getting married to his friend Jeri. That is happening in June. I am Best Man. I am really happy for him.

Papa Teddy and Jeri just went to Italy for a visit. Here are some pictures of their trip.







Aunt Abby, Uncle Andy, Cousin Michael, Rachel, Joshua and little Noah are heading to Italy next month. Bill and Cristina went to Italy this weekend for a few days themselves. Seems like the place to be. I told Mom that I'd like to go to Israel after we go to Spain next summer with everyone for the 10th Anniversary of Bill and Cristina's wedding. You and Grandma are the ones who made the original trip who won't be there for the reunion.

 

That's a picture of you and me on a boat from that trip.

Hey, we had 3 Israeli girls stay at our house this weekend. They are going into the army soon and before they start their service they travel to the United States for a while. I'm glad we were able to host them. They said to visit when we go to Israel. Maybe we will.

I read John Smith's website and it looks like he made it through last night down there in Nashville. That's good. I am really pulling for him to get better.

I just got my own call from Nashville and our Southern trekkers are visiting the XM studio that is in the Country Music Hall of Fame. I miss the people who I worked with in Nashville. They are all the nicest people. I am jealous of Jack. I told them to make sure they see all of the plaques of all of the people enshrined in the Hall. Elvis, Johnny Cash and Ray Charles are all in there; it is cool.

Mom is picking up Jack later today. He is going to be a "UAM." That means he is flying as an "Unaccompanied Minor" without any grownups. I am proud of his independence. I cannot wait to hear all about the trip.

Yesterday we went to Nana and Papa Sy's for a last night of Passover seder. I never heard of that before but Nana explained that it is a tradition for some people. I am excited to stop eating Matzoh. That happens at sundown tonight.

Since you guys were born only 2-days apart, Rachel reminds me how old you'd be now. She is very grown up and beautiful. She sews now. I am sure she is going to be good at whatever she chooses to do. Michael is a great snowboarder and Sam is an amazing skier. All of your cousins are incredible, impressive kids. Watching them grow up is fun.

During the meal last night, I was thinking back to last year when I went up to New York around Passover. I went up to help XM broadcast the Downtown Seder. I hope they keep broadcasting stuff like that and Radio Hanukkah.

I like traditions, but at the same time I'd like to do a more high tech seder. I want to show videos along with the normal Hagaddah stuff.

This is a video I watched right before the first seder last week and I thought it was important, especially when we are so focused on slavery and freedom and justice.



I would have shown that video and this one if we had video added to the seder. There are a lot of people dying right now. It is hard to take especially when we don't know if our soldiers are still fighting for people to be free.

Hey, speaking of high tech, one thing I don't understand is why they don't sell motion sensor controlled faucets and toilets for people's houses. That would save a lot of water. I only see them in airports and stadiums. Maybe one day.

I love you.

I didn't tell you much about Hanukkah this year. We went over to Nana and Papa Sy's apartment with all of your cousins. We bought all the boy cousins Redskin jerseys as gifts. They were very excited.

It was all very nice. I got there late because I was at work. I was lucky enough to help put a Hanukkah channel on XM for all of the holiday.

Joe got a batting helmet.

Hey Hen. We are down in Florida for vacation. I am sitting in the car next to the Starbucks outside of South Seas Island Resort in Captiva. As I started to type this, I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw this guy, Ted Koppel, who introduced the Nightline story about you that John Donvan did. Everything comes back to you.

He was walking to his car with his son carrying cups of coffee. Jack drinks stuff from Starbucks. I think that is crazy, but Mom says it's fine. I guess it is because I have never had coffee. Mom says that Jack drinks something that is just like hot chocolate.

So I am here looking at my email because we are going to send out an invitation to all our friends for a big Hope for Henry Superhero Party early next month. I am waiting to send that out.



When we were landing in Florida I said to Mom that this is the last place that was a "Henry Place," that we haven't been to since you died. The beach, the Dolphins, the alligators, Ding Darling, manatees, the shelling, you and Jack and me playing pirates, you singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star over and over again. I am thinking about all of those things that remind me of when we were here with you and Jack. Every time we drive by the stadium in Fort Meyers I say, "that's where Henry met Cal Ripken." I remember how you hit your first golf balls in the driving net they have set up at South Seas. That place was beat up real bad by Hurricane Charlie but now they are rebuilding. We are staying somewhere else this time around.

For Hanukkah I bought video iPod, put every movie we have of you on it and gave it to Mommy. She really liked that. The funny thing is she bought me the same thing for my birthday. She bought it a while ago because she had them write something on it. Of course the first thing I did was put all those same movies of you on mine. I have it here. There are two videos from two different trips we made here all together. So you're here with us, kinda.

I am going to get back to everyone now. Nana and Papa are here, and so are Uncle Andrew, Aunt Tracey, Sam and Emma. It is raining but that is okay 'cause we're all together.

I love you.

Today was sunny and unseasonably warm. We were unseasonably not so sad. We went to the cemetery and were met by a lot of people. All of your cousins and Aunt Abby and Uncle Andrew were there. Of course Nana came. And Ari and Linda showed up too. I am so tired I am going to go to sleep but I have a lot to tell you. One of the reason I am tired is I stayed up last night trying to make this video.

It is really bad and that is being nice. But you get the idea. I learned a bunch of things as I tried to make this. One is I need to practice a lot more. The other is I need a computer with more memory.

Henry TV!




This was Aunt Abby and Uncle Andrew reading Mom's eulogy at the funeral. For some reason the sound get's all messed up. Sorry. I'll practice and it'll get better. More tomorrow.

Aunt Jen, Uncle Dan, Hannah and Kasha all flew in on Uncle Dan's plane for Thanksgiving. We all went together to Papa Teddy's new house that he shares with Jeri for Thanksgiving dinner. It was very nice. We met Jeri's family.

On Friday morning we went into XM with a bunch of friends including Jake, and we recorded some stuff for the Radio Hanukkah channel. It was a lot of fun. Jake sang a song that he made up. Hopefully we can play it.



We then headed out to St. Michaels for the rest of the weekend. We just missed Aunt Abby and Uncle Andy and all your Cherner cousins. They were at Nana and Papa Sy's for Thanksgiving and then left for their house at the beach. Their house is going to be in a magazine. That should be neat. I will show you pictures whenever that happens. The good news is that Uncle Andrew and Aunt Tracey and Emma and Sam were there.



The weather was absolutely, positively perfect. Yesterday we went to Blackwater Wildlife Refuge, where you, Nana and I went together a few years back, and then today we played baseball and I tried to help Papa Sy and Uncle Andrew fix the end of the dock, which fell in the water in a storm.

At Blackwater we saw a bunch of bald eagles. Do you remember when we were there with Nana and there was a man who let us look through his big lens to see the bald eagle. This time it was a lot easier to see them. We saw a bunch of bald eagles flying high in the sky and also sitting on logs. The bald eagles fly really high while the turkey vultures are a lot lower in the sky.



There are 75 eagles who nest at Blackwater year round. In winter there are supposed to be 150. Maybe we'll go back later in the winter and look for more. I think everyone had a good time. It felt good to suggest something that everyone had fun doing.

We brought a lot of binoculars with us. Nana had a pair that she told us used to belong to her Uncle Sol.



Papa Sy explained to me that Uncle Sol fought in World War I. When he got home from the war he would spend some of his time at the racetrack. He loved horse racing. The binoculars we were using were the same ones he used to watch the horses at the track.



I looked a lot at your picture that hangs in the room were we sleep. It is the room next to the room with the bunk beds. You are wearing your PJs with the stars on them. Joe just got some flannel pajamas from Cousin Joshua. He looks so cute. It kills me.



I didn't look forward to coming back home.

Henry TV!



This is your first Thanksgiving. You were smaller than the turkey! This was taken eleven years ago today.

We were at Nana and Papa Sy's old house near Annapolis. That was the house they had before St. Michaels. It was the house where I asked Mom to marry me. Actually it was on the dock of that house.

You were just a month old.