Jim is gone: Day 1, The Beginning

Jim and his dad, July 2003
Drove Jim to the airport last night. As he told it, I'm dropping him off at the airport so he can fly to CA. Then he's driving himself home from that airport.

Message to Jim, who brought his Blackberry on the trip just so he could check out the shoebox castle: Hi hon, Sorry if I was incoherent and untalkative on the phone when you called to check in. Had I actually been awake, I would have conversed with you, rather than just spewing random words into the phone. I have no idea if you had a good flight, if you were hungry, if you slept on the plane, or whether there was anyone to meet you at the airport. And say hi to the family out there!

Last night Matt went to a movie with a friend. This morning, I woke up with a jolt--I didn't remember Matt coming home! Was he home? The kids haven't learned to check in with me when they get dropped off or when they come in from playing outside. And I apparently haven't learned how to search the house for missing children before I go to bed. Properly chagrined, I checked Matt's bed and he was in it, fast asleep. It kinda reminded me of the time that we all went to my mom's house for a family gathering and we couldn't find Matt when it was time to eat (an hour or so after we arrived at my mom's house). We searched the house high and low. Finally, I thought back to when we first arrived and I couldn't remember Matt ever coming in the house. So I looked out in the van and there he was, fast asleep. I felt so bad, but he was not aware of having been left behind, so there wasn't the agony of having to console a left-behind child. He was about 4 or 5 at the time--he wasn't an infant or anything.

Random old picture time! These are from 2003.

Hayley is holding a snake at a birthday party for Jimmy and Paul:
Katie at DisneyWorldJimmy with his clay bowl at the district art fair:

Paul on his bike:
Matt doing who-knows-what with his hands:

Comments

Jenni said…
It is strange to look back 5 years ago. We always think that the time goes slowly and that each day has so many hoops to jump through. Five years is gone in a flash and Katie has an Associates Degree and is going off to college. I'm going to be right behind you. *deep sigh*