Today, as I was running in and out of that room, I took a look into Nate's room across the hall. His door was open, and on the wall directly opposite his door was a picture/poster of one of the things we did on our last family vacation before Nick went away to college and ultimately got married. We had taken a trip to Seattle. We specifically said Suzy could not come with us on that vacation since we believed it would be our last vacation with Nick before he got married (even though they weren't planning a wedding or were engaged at the time).
We did lots of things on that vacation, but one of the most fun things we did was to visit the Experience Music Project Museum. We had a great time roaming around and experiencing rock n' roll, but the best parts was creating our own band called "The Hot Mama Band" and then going into the studio to record us sing "I love Rock n' Roll" by Joan Jett. Nick played the guitar. Naomi played the tambourine. I sang lead. Nate played the drums and Tracy played the keyboard. We all sang our hearts out. It was recorded on video and a poster was created. We bought a couple of posters and the video. However, most of the posters are lost and the video is long gone. The missing things make me sad, but the reality is, I never thought one of our children would die. I thought we would have our kids for as long as we lived so things like a video or a poster didn't really make much of a difference. However, now, those things mean everything to us.
So I looked at this picture on the wall and saw Nick jamming out on the guitar. I saw my whole family jamming out and having such a fantastic time without a care in the world. We were so happy. Everyone in the family had such a blast doing that. It's those kinds of surprises that happen on vacations that make amazing memories. I love that Nate has that poster hanging up on his wall. It makes me smile when I see it.
Then later, while I was showing Nate the newly decorated room, I pulled out a frame that had 2 pictures in it. They were pictures from Tracy's college graduation. Nate was 3 years old; Nick was 6. Tracy was 25. We were laughing about how cute Nate was and realizing that Tracy was just a year older than Nate is currently (well almost.. Nate will be 24 in December). Once Nate left, I looked closer at the picture. It was a picture of Tracy, Nick and Nate. Tracy had just graduated from Florida Institute of Technology and Nick was wearing Tracy's graduation cap and holding Tracy's diploma. That is when it hit me. Nick was so proud of his daddy and loved wearing that graduation cap and holding that diploma. Nick might have been killed a few months away from his own college graduation from the same college, but at least he got to wear the graduation cap and hold a diploma from that college when he was little. But when he was little, he had no clue or desire to graduate from THAT school. Funny how things go full circle.
I enjoy these fun memories. My brain doesn't always work, but when it does and it allows me to remember these fun memories, they are like expensive and the most valuable gifts I can be given. I am so grateful to have them.
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