The last day of the year dawned cool and sunny. We all slept in, then had churros all together. A churro is a Spanish fried pastry which you dip in sugar or chocolate, and it's one of those things that Julia established as a tradition when we got married. We always have churros on the last day of the year. We then played hide and seek around the house. Michael would always hide wherever the last person hid, which was pretty funny. Jamie could be heard giggling everywhere, too, which made me glad- I don't want the kids to grow up mean and hateful and stuff, which they will if they feel left out, and which is one of the reasons I was playing with the kids. I know that I have to pay attention to all of them.
Actually, the game was very entertaining. I had not played hide and seek in ages.
Then we all sat down in the living room with some milkshakes I made out of bananas and chocolate ice-cream, and we discussed what had been the best and worst things of the year. Some where funny, some sad, some touching. Especially Josh's reflections:
"The worst thing was when we found out that I had leukemia, and that's when I thought I would not make it to the end of the year." he admit it. "And the best thing has been finding out how to make the best out of it. I've been to parties, a concert, I've met tons of really cool people and I've found out who are my real friends and who aren't."
Michael was cute, as usual: "The best thing was when I had a dream of mommy and I thought she was alive and we were all happy and having a party, and the worst was when daddy was sad and cried all the time..." Of course, he said this in his own 'dialect', which means he can't really pronounce the "r" and sometimes mixes up the verb forms, which only made the whole thing cuter... although I must admit I am sad that Mike remembers me crying so much. It's not the sort of after-taste I'd like him to have of the year.
Jamie, as always, talked a lot and really fast (quite well, I might add- she's very smart and perfectionist): "I liked it when I started first grade- well, not the part of Josh being in the hospital, but the part of learning how to read and all these things. Now I can read anything I want to, which is fun, but a lot of hard work, too... And the worst thing was the first day of school when all the kids had left but daddy had forgotten that, since it was the first day, we only had half a day of classes, so I was alone. I felt as if I'd been forgotten and abandoned."
And Ryan, as was becoming more usual for him, said only a few short sentences: "The worst when I had to babysit Jamie and Mike-"
"I'm not a baby!" Jamie explained, looking offended.
"Me either!" said Mike, as if it was the worst thing that could be said of him.
"Ok, I had to take care of-"
"I don't need to be taken care of, either!" Jamie exploded.
"Yeah!" Mike cut in. "I'm big now. Daddy said so just the other day."
"Er, whatever." Ryan said, frowning. "And being a whole day without knowing what was happening and having this horrible feeling that Josh was dying or dead. And the best thing was when I got my car. Except gas is really expensive."
If you can't guess, I was making Ryan pay for the gas.
Just as I was about to explain my best and worst things, there was a phone call.
"I'll be back soon, kids." I said, as I grabbed the phone and stepped into the kitchen.
"Hello, this is Micah's mother."
Something about her voice made me freeze. The image of Micah, lying on a hospital bed in Christmas day, when I met her, ran through my head.
"I regret to say that Micah passed away early this morning."
Author's Chapter Notes:
Update in honor of knky, who asked (begged?)... And Lenni, I "stole" one of your thoughts from one of the reviews.
