Today was Memorial day in the most real way. Today was the day we chose to publicly mark Sam’s 16th birthday. it was a happy and sad day.. Rain and sun..

It was also my parents anniversary ! (Happy A-day mom and dad !) ..

We started today cleaning up the house for the gathering tonight.. The boys went outside and started working on the boats and rafts that they were going to use to float down to the park. Gabe got a nasty surprise when he turned over our canoe and found that some enterprising squirrel had hidden a whole cache of now rotting sunflowers.. The smell was indescribable !

Max, Mason and Emma worked on re-rebuilding Max’s giant raft. It hadn’t quite made it on the last trip.. so they hammered in a few new supporting members.

Meanwhile Tim K and I worked for a half hour to rig the canoe with a proper flag holder.. which underscored what I already knew.. which is that the most time on a project will generally be spent doing the least important thing.

Put it sure looked good and piratey ! Arggggh !

The guys grabbed hte boat and rafts and walked them down to the Winooski .

Ooops.. almost stepped on this guy !

Here’s the peanut gallery watching from the bridge ..

Away goes raft’s 1 and a half…

Here’s the boat… (sorry about the haze.. I was shooting through a plastic bag at this point to protect the camera)

I climbed aboard Max’s raft…

Captain Max gave the order to weigh the anchors and set … uh… drift..

I only wanted to go as far as the Huntington. I had to get home to help prep for the gathering this evening.. I jumped off there and said good by to the flotilla.. Sam would have loved this so much. Somehow I’m sure he does still !

I tromped back through the nettles to help Diane get the house ready..

I went on a nice 3 mile run .. thinking of Sam..Sometimes when I run I talk to him… I could feel him so strongly today.. He was right there with me..

I got home around 2, showered. grabbed my rocket and headed to the park.. Max and Gabe had already made it there by boat.. and Diane went down in the other car.. we needed all the vehicles to pull back our tired sailors.

There were about 70 or so folks at the park. .. some of them were playing ultimate..

I carried the rocket around to let people draw and write on it.. just like last year.. I’d rigged up a loud beeper in it this time.. with the hopes that it might make it easy for someone to find.. .. (It has a loud ‘neeener-neeeener-neeener’ annoying warble that should last for a few days.. in case you hear it).. Anyway.. it was really strange carrying around this big rocket which was making that noise.

Britt.. what are you doing in that tree ?

Bary and ammay and there three kids came in Gary’s french fry oil powered bus

OK.. time to launch.. the rain was coming and we planned to gather at our house at 5:00.. Perfect timing !

I loaded the rocket.. this is a big ‘G’ engine one..weighing just over a pound. it goes just under a half mile high.. you’re supposed to get FAA clearance to launch one of these … but it was a quiet day so I figured it was safe..

I didn’t expect to get it back.. but you never know !

Max agreed to do the honors..

We had quite a crowd

!0-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0 .. up it went witha roar.. clear out of sight . Carrying a small amount of Sam’ ashes with it…

..

At that point, it really started to rain.. everyone headed to our house.. while Max and the guys dimattled their rafts..

I got home to find a ton of cars already at our house..

I went over to say hi to Gabe… and to say ‘hi’ to Sam’s rock… .. Then I went inside.

The place was already jumping !

At one point I was lying on the floor with Chai looking at the party from a dog’s perspective..

Around 7 came the time to light the candles for Sam.. This was so hard.. we were all here having fun in Sam’s memory.. and .. he was not physically with us.. Sometimes it’s so hard for me to get my head around that.. I miss him every moment of every day.. I missed him more than ever the moment we lit those candles.. I really can’t describe how that felt.. Diane managed to get out a wonderful thanks to all of our friends for being there.. I was too choked up to say much .

I’m so glad our friends were here.

THe rain was letting up a bit at that point.. so the kids went outside and riged up a make shift ‘slip and slide’ .. They even put a jump in it !..

..

A few of the brave kids even went into the unheated pool.. the water must have been in the low 50’s …

A couple of the kids came up with the weird idea of zipping their hoodies together

They made themselves into a 10 legged thing.. here’s the view from the bottom..

… and the view from the top !

I came back inside and managed to get this shot of Wendy’s impressive sunburn….

I also wandered into a ‘piercing party’ (ewwwwww). Rj was putting an ‘industrial’ ear cartilage piercing in Abbot’s ear. It was fascinating and weird to watch.

Abbot’s only anesthesia was holding Rose’s hand.. awwwwwww.

I cane down stairs and saw that Victor and Paulo had shown up.. Victor said he had a surprise for me.. An small welding table that UVM was throwing it out.. I’d been needing one of these so baldy.. I’ve always meant to make one.. but never found the time.. it’s the perfect size for me !! What a great surprise !!!

I’ve been having trouble with stup for my cutting tourch (It’s got a hair trigger O2 adjustment) .. so Victor helped me with that , too.. he’s an expert welder and machinist !.

Back inside.. things were slowing down.. Jessie had to go.. she as wearing a little kids overcoat as a dress. and looked very stylish as always.. we all decided that she looked like Barbara Eden in the old Get Smart series.

We stuck the SamStones we’d made to dry out on the stares (I can’t find my pictures of the SamStone making.. but we went through a whole box of clay)

Some of the kids even helped us clean up and take out the recycling.. The house was soon back in better condition than before the party.. !

I wandered outside for one last check of the yard.. When I looked back, I could see the ‘See Sam’ sign we have hanging in our entry way through the window.. I wish I could See Sam.. This party was exactly the right way to mark his birthday. He would have so much wanted it this way..

Good night all our friends.. thanks so much for being there for us…
Sam.. Happy almost birthday my son.. we miss you s much.. you were very much with us in spirit today.. you will always be my party animal… I love you..
-me

Great day at home. I spent the entire day working around the house… I got one of the large rockets ready for a possible launch on Monday for Sam’s Birthday, I started the pool up, drilled holes in a few clay pots for Diane, mulched the rest of Diane’s flower beds, cleaned the 3rd floor landing, added more memory to the downstairs computer, swapped some winter and summer clothes and didn’t leave our yard until about 3. At that point I had to take Silas, Pucket and Kayla to get gas for Kayla’s car which had run out on Cochran rd. It was a day so grilled of working with my hands that my brain was completely at peace…
Diane got back from Marci’s around 6:30 and we went for a run with Chai in the beautiful late afternoon .. Gabe called as soon as we got back to tell us that Skanky Green was playing in the park. It was the ‘Rock the Earth’ concert with about 6 bands. We zoomed down there in time to hear Skanky Greens entire set of

It was great to see all the guys back together.. they’ve been spread out
all over the country.. actually the world this year.. this was their
first.. and maybe only gig for the summer.. They even played the
‘Captain Sam’ song for us !

It was also a nice reunion for the band parents.

Therew ere about 100 folks there at the park listening to all the bands.. It was great seeing everyone.. As I looked around.. I started noticing how many folks were wearing Sam shirts.. which was kind of cool.. given that this event had nothing to do with Sam or with us.. it was just what they were wearing on a late spring weekend day listening to music.. I only caught a few of them.. but take a look:

I really love our town.. I really love our friends… Gnite folks.. Gnite Sam

-jc

ps: Remember Sam’s 16th Birthday Party Memorial Day May 26, 2008

2:00-5:00 – Ultimate Frisbee pick-up games at Richmond Volunteers Green

5:00 – Potluck & Music at Mariano-Cohn’s house

Come
play Frisbee in the park or just hang out. Weather permitting; there
will be another rocket launch. Around 5:00, please join us for a
potluck dinner at the Mariano-Cohn’s house. The theme is sandwiches
and salads. We will provide bread, condiments, drinks & cake.
Please bring whatever food works for you and musical instruments, if
you wish.

Please pass it on the invitation !

It’s been  alternating beautiful and clear and rainy all  day A few minutes ago there were bright stars..now it’s raining again..just like my moods these days.

We’ve just come back from Hruska’s gymnasium. our good friend Tim managed to get another session with Issac the amazing gymnast. Gabe and his friends had a great time doing flipping and jumping on all the funky jumpy things there. Here’s Gabe mid-cork.

Diane and I hung around upstairs and watching the kids and reading the very interesting mix of waiting-room type magazines.. They had my current favorite ‘Convenience Store Petroleum’

And the inspiring ‘Mathematics teaching in middle school’ (which I actually did enjoy reading)

How about ‘Opera News’ ?

Or the provocatively named American Society for Heating, refrigeration and Air Conditioning Journal

How about ‘quality whitetails’ ?

Or Bevnet Innovation: the beverage professional’s guide to product development and marketing.

Here’s the influential ‘Romantic Times Book Reviews’

Must be one for every field… I’m going to go find my copy of ‘Tired Dad’ magazine.. I gotta sleep. Gnite all.. Gnite Sam
-me

Funny day.. I woke up feeling really good for no reason I could place. I had a marci appointment around noon so I decide to work at home for the morning. I took the dogs out for an early morning run in the woods. It was so good for my soul..

had a busy productive morning.. then headed over to marci’s for a reiki session. On the way I was listening to our friend Jane’s CD in the car. There’s a song on there.. “Retrospect”.. that always makes me think of Sam.. I think seh wrote it for one of her granparents who had died or was dieing. When it came on, I broke down so hard that it surprised me.. I had to pull my car over because I couldn’t see. I sat and listened to the rest of the song.. then pulled myself back together.. feeling much better… and I was already feeling pretty good today. When I got to Marci’s I called Jane and asked her to send me the lyrics. Here they are (I’ll try to find a recording of it.. it’s a very good song)

I had a great session at marci’s.. We talked about Sam’s birthday next week.. and how that’s working inside me. I realized how my head is getting in the way of my heart . My mind is pushing me to be ‘normal’ .. but my heart is really feeling for Sam.. When my mind locks out my heart I get so out of synch with the universe.. I woke up the other day thinking of the phrase ‘I must be out of my heart’ .. just like I might say ‘I must be out of my mind’ .. That came to me again during the reiki session today. It really helped me.. somehow it seems to let my feelings get around my brain. I think it’s going to help me go into this coming week with an open heart and an open mind..
Which reminds me.. please help me get the word out on the birthday celebration we’re doing for Sam this coming Monday. We’re looking for folks to have fun, play music and bring food and memories to share. OK.. gotta sleep now.. more tomorrow. nite all. Nite Sam !
-me

Come
play Frisbee in the park or just hang out. Weather permitting; there
will be another rocket launch. Around 5:00, please join us for a
potluck dinner at the Mariano-Cohn’s house. The theme is sandwiches
and salads. We will provide bread, condiments, drinks & cake.
Please bring whatever food works for you and musical instruments, if
you wish.