Thursday, October 27, 2005

A Sad Goodbye

The last time I saw Alex was in the spring, at the little show my son's preschool puts on each year. He was the younger brother of one of Emmett's friends. Alex was wheelchair bound, and couldn't speak, but I remember smiling to myself watching him watch the show. He had a HUGE grin on his face and kind of sang along with all the songs, gesticulating madly with the music. After the concert, his brother Kevin, ran over to him. They clearly adored each other.

It was a large wake on Monday. There was a line snaking out the door of the funeral home... we stood in the rain for at least 45 minutes, waiting to hug Alex's parents. We didn't really know them. I think that day last spring was the first time I had actually met them because Kevin was usually dropped off by his caregiver, Adriana. But Nguyen and I wanted to pay our respects and say goodbye to that sweet, sunny little boy. He looked so serious in the coffin... not at all like the charming 4 year old we knew.

I just kept thinking about his older brother Kevin. And his parents. And Adriana.

It made me want to go home and hug my boys.



The Obit

2 comments:

Bad Alice said...

Oh dear, I should never read such things. Now I'm teary. What a sweet face.

Anonymous said...

me too :(

My God daughter (7) died in June. She was a sunny girl too - wheelchair bound and I miss her such a lot

I know she's in heaven already dancing and yeah even flying - but still my heart breaks

Her funearl was a great testimony. It was held on a Tuesday and SO MANY people took the day off work to be there, including nurses from the hospital.