On the road again… I’m writing from the passenger seat as we drive down very scenic I 87 in the Adirondacks  of NY.

The four of us (+ Chai) are heading down to Diane’s folks in Endicott NY. Maria and Gabe’s 50^th anniversary is in a week or so.. my folks 50^th was in May.. big milestones !Last time we were down there was the weekend before Sam’s passing. Max hasn’t been there since  one of our college visiting trips in 2005.. It turns out that this weekend is the only weekend that the four of us are able to get away together this summer between camps, Max’s movie filming and my work travel. It’s remarkable to me how busy we are this summer given our emotional state.        On that front, last night and today have been pretty hard for me. The Fourth of July was always one of Sam’s favorite holidays… Actually, Sam loved all holidays.. Diane and I were talking about it last night.. he really lived every day like it was some sort of big holiday.. Last night, the rain let up enough for us to go down to Richmond to watch the fireworks…I was feeling a little low.. but the intensity of my reaction to the fireworks  surprised me.  broke down after the first couple of bursts .I lost it again during the finale. I’ve always had the tradition of hugging   each member of my family  at that point of the show.… It’s so strange how hard it is to predict my own reactions to things..

   I woke today in the same sensitive state…It’s a familiar pattern to me now.. kind of a backlash after any sort of celebration.. . Diane, Chai and I went for a run, then I got to sit in on Diane’s morning yoga class. Which was just what I needed… I broke down again during meditation… my emotions have been stronger these last two days then anytime since Sam’s birthday.    I think I’m a little worried about this visit to NY.. I know that I’ll be reliving many memories on this trip…

   The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully… We did some house cleaning after the busy 4^th.. and packed for our trip. Gabe and I hung out for a few hours  and just goofed off. We spent some time playing on the trampoline which is really fun and a major workout.. I tried to see how high I could double bounce Gabe.. He’s  trying to help me get to a good back flip.. so far I’m too chicken to try.  When we got too hot we went and hung out in the pool.   I had the  weird idea to try and take some pictures underwater.. I put my camera in a couple of zip lock bags and  took it in the pool.. Iyt was pretty cool.. Here are some murky shots we got…

   Now we’re about an hour north of Albany.. We’re going to drop Max’s college friend Emma (aka Lydia, aka Mary, aka Otto) at the Albany bus station for her ride to NYC.   Emma’s been hanging out with us since Sunday.. it’s been good getting to know her.. It’s very cool to see how quickly she dropped into the the rest of Max’s friends.  The kids are in the back of the car playing Guitar Hero on the Van’s TV.. it’s fun to listen too.. They just tried some tongue tattoo’s .. wierd !

   OK.. I think I can get enough bandwidth to post on this stretch of highway.. Let me try..   More tomorrow.. Gnit’e all.. Sam.. we’ll be thinking of you ant Grandma and Grandpa’s

-jc