It was great having David & Linda here… They took off this morning… But not before David eat a peanut butter and mustard bagel



It’s really fun being around these guys… There are oldest mutual friends. I actually drove us to our wedding.… Diane and Linda are almost twins

We loved having their dog Willow here too… This house needs dogs… We really miss our girls

I guess we won’t have to miss them long… We just decided to go down to Endicott to see some of Diane’s family. It’s part of this new freedom… Spontaneous vacations!

Nite all, nite sam

-me



Totally slow day goofing around with Linda and david . It’s so nice having them here !

We had a leisurely breakfast then headed towards Waterbury. First stop was the giant flea market on route 2 . Even though we didn’t buy a single thing it was so wonderful to see . Everyone was just so happy to be outside on the relative warmth (low 50s)

Next stop was the Waterbury damn at little ricer . We all walked out to the damn building and then lay down on the grass for a nap.

We came home and made an early dinner (shrimp and grits .. so amazing !)

The. A post dinner hike on the river shore to see the dame rockets in bloom.

There were some cool pitcher plants on the trail

Then a stop at Barlowe beach

David showed us the street picture of him from high school

We’re all heading bed early.. so ill finish now.

More tomorrow

Note all, nite sam

-me

Sam would have turned 29 today. He is so much still part of our lives . I can’t help wondering what he’d be like .. whatever he would be like, I know he’d be a fun and loving person 🙂

We almost always mark his Birthday with a hike up Bolton and then a gathering at our house . (We do the same on to mark the day he died ). Yesterday, we decided to do the hike at sunrise . We met at Bolton at 4:30

I normally set off some sort of Ariel fireworks at the top of the fire tower .. but given it was early .. we set off some

Spoke bombs for Sam.. he loved fireworks

I found a great heart shaped rock on the hike . I least find something like that on samday

Here’s a testament to the various tea and coffee preferences of the group

I spent the rest of the day thinking about sam.. looking at pictures, listening to his music ..

Around 6 our friend Linda and david showed up from Endicott . This is the first time they e tried bringing their camper

Around 7:30 folks started showing up for the ice cream social . We were inviting folks for a movie.. but in the end we never got to the movie ! It was such a nice gathering !

Around 9 we all went outside to watch the sunset and due a toast to sam

We were able to zoom Max and Gabe in to join the toast to their brother

The house was still full at 11pm .. but no one felt like a movie . It was just so fun being together and talking and hugging without masks !!

It was so great gathering for our boy

We love you Sam ! You are always in our hearts !

Note all, nite sam

-me

Tomorrow would have been sam’s 29th birthday… So hard to believe. I have powerful dream about him

Last night that woke me out of a sound sleep… It wasn’t alarming… It was nice to be thinking about him.

What a sweet and amazing kid. Like every one of his birthdays since he died we will be marking it by hiking Bolton mountain And then meeting up with friends later in the day.

Tomorrow we’re hiking at 4:30 AM sharp from the Parking lot at Bolton Valley… The idea is to get to the fire tower by sunrise. Then at 7 PM in the evening we’re all meeting at the school house for ice cream cake and an outside movie… We decided to watch “the mask” with Jim Carey… Because a) Sam loved the movie ( “smokin’ !”). And b) What could be more appropriate than an end of Covid get together than “the mask”… Please feel free to come and join us for either.

We will have ice cream and cake… Please bring anything else you’d like for yourself or to share

Please let us know if you’d like to come by signing up here https://www.facebook.com/events/917816635727175/?ti=ia

Happy Birthday eve my son… Loving you and missing you !

Note all, nite sam

-me