Dear Joey,
Today is your 21st birthday. You should be planning a night out on the town with all your guy friends to drink too much and laugh at things that sober people don’t think are funny.
You should be finished with your community college courses now and be living in a dorm at a university.
You should have a girlfriend who gets mad at you because you spend too much time on the computer.
You should be singing “Stacy’s Mom” to torment your boss and her daughter. You should be initiating new coworkers with the trash can treatment.
You should have been best man at your brother’s wedding and doting uncle to the niece and nephew you never got to meet.
You should have been standing behind your grandma with your hand on her shoulder while we all grouped around your grandpa and let him slip away.
Every family picture I see has a hole where you should be standing.
I can still picture you running though the house with Buddy and Daniel. You each had a towel pinned around your neck playing super hero. I can also picture a 3 year old you on the back porch of the house in Lee’s Summit with your shorts and cowboy boots.
I don’t understand why things happen the way they do. I don’t think it’s fair. I can only believe that whatever you were supposed to do on this planet, you finished early. You picked a hell of time to stop procrastinating.
Anyway, I still miss you. I hope that wherever you are there’s Dr. Pepper and high speed internet access.
Happy Birthday. I love you.
Aunt Jorgi
Today is your 21st birthday. You should be planning a night out on the town with all your guy friends to drink too much and laugh at things that sober people don’t think are funny.
You should be finished with your community college courses now and be living in a dorm at a university.
You should have a girlfriend who gets mad at you because you spend too much time on the computer.
You should be singing “Stacy’s Mom” to torment your boss and her daughter. You should be initiating new coworkers with the trash can treatment.
You should have been best man at your brother’s wedding and doting uncle to the niece and nephew you never got to meet.
You should have been standing behind your grandma with your hand on her shoulder while we all grouped around your grandpa and let him slip away.
Every family picture I see has a hole where you should be standing.
I can still picture you running though the house with Buddy and Daniel. You each had a towel pinned around your neck playing super hero. I can also picture a 3 year old you on the back porch of the house in Lee’s Summit with your shorts and cowboy boots.
I don’t understand why things happen the way they do. I don’t think it’s fair. I can only believe that whatever you were supposed to do on this planet, you finished early. You picked a hell of time to stop procrastinating.
Anyway, I still miss you. I hope that wherever you are there’s Dr. Pepper and high speed internet access.
Happy Birthday. I love you.
Aunt Jorgi
Joseph Neal Kreeger
June 18, 1988 – November 13, 2007
2 comments:
That's beautiful.
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