Five arduous months without your presence...

Dear Justin;

Today you have been physically missing from our lives for five extremely long and emotionally charged months honey. Odd how just a short year ago we were on the phone constantly; remember babe your broken tooth our major conversation topic. I felt your pain and was so helpless then in my attempts to offer you solace. Then it was just your tooth and now in light of all that has occurred this was so insignificant but we could not see this at the time. With great certainty I can say had we a glimpse of what the future held we would have been more concerned with the time we had left. But life is strange like this....what we see or feel as inconceivable in one moment of our lives can quickly be surmounted by a more significantly devastating moment. Thank you for being such a wonderfully loving and caring son.

I WANT MY SON BACK.

Chaotic Birthday Fun!

Age 10. Choosing to explain the happenings of this birthday party with a mathematical equation will enable all to see the impending calamity for which Justin's 10th birthday party became known! Seven 10 year old boys + a large park + amusement rides + a lake with paddle boats + a small ocean aquarium with various aquatic species + a jelly fish + a petting zoo + a nerf gun which can be pre-loaded with 10 large nerf darts at one time + 4 janitorial employees of Dan Nicolas Park collecting trash on golf carts no less + me experiencing the inability to stop repeatedly calling Randy's name in a high shrill voice = a day of fun for the birthday goers & a slight nervous breakdown for me! I love all you guys...you remain Justin's brothers and had I medication this party may not have been so nerve wracking; especially for the employees who kept getting shot with the nerf gun! It's a miracle they allowed us back into the park...well leaving the nerf gun at home and disguises helped!! This day was too much fun! Do you remember driving to the park, we road in my trusty mommie van, and 'raised the roof' at every stop light to hip-hop blaring on the radio; well I do! Thanks for making my life an adventure and so much fun! I love & miss you Justin my wonderful, gregarious, precious son....I remain Justin's momma ♥

The simplicity of childhood

Justin (age 4) believed spraying 'monster rid' before bed rid-died his room of any potential nightmares. Justin (age 4) ended up at the Disney Store at Southpark Mall in Charlotte. Knowing he could only spend $5.00 he surveyed the entire stores contents very carefully and after taking in every possible item Justin chose a bottle of Tinkerbell's pixie dust. He never opened it because he was certain the dust could enable one to FLY! Justin (age 5) arrived at the conclusion eating mushrooms contain properties which make one smart! Hhuumm? Maybe he was on to something!? Justin (age 7) was adamant that he be in his own home on Christmas eve; how else would Santa find you? Justin (age 8) after reading a letter he received from Santa he concluded Santa has a great signature!

Justin's take on my vanity years!

I don't know if you've ever had an enlarged pore I had one on my chin and I really disliked mine. To me it looked like the Grand Canyon; yes I am aware this sounds like a melodramatic statement but I am talking about my vanity years! One day while visiting the dermatologist she informed me she could fi...x it! WOW! Who knew? The way she fixed it was to punch out and remove the area then put a couple of stitches there. After the procedure I went home and Justin (age 8) took one look at my chin and in a horrified tone asked me what had happened. I told him what the doctor did; he looked at me rather puzzled then Justin finally made his assessment. He said, "Mommie, you had a little hole and the doctor made it a bigger hole and NOW you're happy? Out of the mouths of babes! Even at 8 years of age he thought I was off my rocker! He was probably right! lololol I love you honey...at work they teased me for a week asking if I had cut myself shaving!!



Next vanity stage; I had a broken capillary dead center of my nose; I looked like a target! haha Vanity!! I found out you could have the area lazered and the hideous capillary which I saw as a target would be gone! One minor side effect; after the lazer procedure the area would become red, purple and bluish for about two weeks. So upon returning home Justin (age 9) gasped when he saw this and asked what happened to my nose. I told him about the procedure; again in his matter of fact way he said, "Mommie you had a little red place and now it is a huge purple, red and blue place and NOW you're happy?" (I believe I told you to go to your room! lololol I was only joking and you knew it!)



The final episode involving my vanity years (Okay so I dealt with a long vanity stage!) was the removal of a 'beauty mark' well that's what we called them in the day; really it's a mole! Justin, my mother and I all had a beauty mark on our jawlines in the exact same place. Remember everyone I was going through my vanity stage; I watched as my mother's beauty mark slowly move down her neck as gravity took hold; I could not bear the thought so one afternoon I went to the dermatologist and had it removed. The doctor put a band-aid on my chin and I headed home. Of course Justin (age 10) immediately asked why there was a band-aid on my jaw and I told him I had the beauty mark removed to which he replied in a horrified tone, "The FAMILY MOLE?" This was one of those gut busting laughs you so often gave me! Thank you for loving me for me; even though you had a blast making fun of my silliness and vanity years...I miss you teasing me honey...a lot! I love you & miss you a lot, too! I remain Justin's momma

My Son's 11th Birthday

Age 11. Justin's 11th Birthday plan was attending the Boweevils triple 'A' baseball game in Kannapolis, NC. It was a pretty cool deal; not only did Justin get to throw out the starting pitch (I might add he threw a beautiful pitch straight across the plate!! YEE-HA) but the package also offered hot dogs, chips, drinks, coupons for the...... gift shop and a great birthday cake for all the party goers to enjoy! As we lined up at the gate to enter Randy & I stood there with our mouths agape for this particular game night each child attending was given a miniature wooden bat! YIKES!! SIX ELEVEN YEAR OLD adolescences armed with miniature wooden bats!!! OMG!!! Talk about an intense feeling of defenselessness...sensing possible impending chaos I frantically searched my purse for band aids in case of any minor concussions and luckily I was good to go! Justin's 'home boys' all had a blast and it turned out to be a birthday party to remember; Randy & I were both thankful not even one party-goer received even a minor concussion on this night of fun so long ago! I am so happy ya'll had such a great time I still remember this night vividly! I miss you honey...I had so much fun planning your birthday parties...I know it was never anything extravagant and you were always so surprised and happy! I love you my beautiful son...Oh how much I wish we could all relive this day...