Harry

The boys are doing good back at home.  I'm plugging away at the class I'm taking, trying to keep my mind off you and what happened. It's kind of surreal that it's only been three weeks, almost four.  In a way it feels like a lifetime since I've heard your voice.

My cell phone died over the weekend, right before I was to fly out to Dallas. So I took it to the Apple store and they replaced it.

The girl told me, just sync it up to iTunes again and it will restore all your lost information.

The last time I had synced the phone was July 24. So when I hooked it up, I lost everything from July 24 through Sunday. And it reset my phone as though it was July 24. My recent missed calls were from you. The text messages were from you, about Amy Winehouse dying.

And about divorce stuff.

That was back in the first few weeks of it all.  When we were talking about finding a counselor who could help us through the process so it wouldn't turn into war.  It didn't, but something did turn in you. Downwards, you went downwards those last few weeks, so quickly.

Did I ever tell you about our neighbor Harry? The old man up the street. 

A few days after you died, the day after your funeral, I was walking C to school.  Harry was on the other side of the street, coming towards us. I tightened my grip on C's hand, dreading the inevitable.  Remember how crazy Harry is, how he'd just walk down into our garage and start going through your car things? You hated that.

I was walking C to school, Neil.

Is this Neil's boy?
Yes.
Are you his sister?
No, I'm his wife.
Oh. Is he alright?
No. He passed away.
Oh. Well, my wife said someone musta died in that house, the police's there too long.

I just kept walking. By the time we got to school C didn't want to go in and started crying. I handed him off to the principal and ran out, sobbing. The school social worker caught me on the sidewalk and tried to help.

He's just a kindergartner. He doesn't need his school experience to be ruined right way, not by this or by Harry, or the bully in his classroom.
We'll take care of him.

When I got home, Sarah saw me. I told her what had happened, and she went up and took care of Harry for me.

He won't be bothering you anymore.

Sweet Sarah.  So many sweet people who have stepped up to help us out.  I wish you could have seen how wonderful people are. There have been some who aren't. And some who I thought were before all this and now I can see they aren't.  But mostly, what I've noticed is the overwhelming kindness we've been shown. I hope I can remember that.