Life and Death

We welcomed a new baby into our family on Saturday.   Sweetest little boy who has a "real" name but needs a handle for this blog.   Maybe I should have a contest?   hahahaha!   TinkerBabyBoy?   Dunno, I'll think on it some more.

And Tuesday we said good bye to a friend of TinkerSon2.  Tommy had a motorcycle accident on fathers day, and after being in a coma for almost 3 weeks  passed away.

Tommy and TS2 were great friends in high school.   Of course, after graduation, they went their separate ways and lost touch.    When TinkerDaughter moved back home three years ago, she made new friends, and one night went to a party so took her brother.    She called me later and said do you remember Tommy?   Sure, he was a sweet, big kid, always had a smile, always willing to help out and the nicest guy.    Apparently he was also dating TinkerDaughter's friend.   She said that the two of them walked in the door, TinkerSon2 and Tommy took one look at each other, shouted each other's  name and then hugged for 5 minutes.    They apparently were inseparable the rest of the night and it was rather sickening.   Silly boys.   

Last year Tommy got married, it was not a good experience, and I won't sully this post with the story, that is for another day.  In a year or two.  Maybe.  Lets just say that he and the bride lost all their friends over the event.  And less than 3 months later, they separated.   

He never reconnected with his friends.    Various guys would periodically try over the next few months to reconnect, but by the first of this year, they just stopped.   Thought they would try again this summer when maybe he wasn't so raw.   They made plans to just gang up on him and force the issue.  

Because Tommy was in the same hospital TinkerDaughter had her baby, TinkerSon2 even got to get a 2-for-1 parking pass last Sunday.   He went to visit his sister and new hunting buddy, and then went and spent almost 2 hours with Tommy's parents.   Said it was a good visit and they seemed very up beat.   He told me, I should have forced Tommy to see me last winter.   I told him he couldn't force Tommy to do anything Tommy didn't want to do, and  the only thing he could do was keep in touch with Tommy's parents, visit at the hospital, and when Tommy got better, he would be a captive audience so they could reconnect then. 

I am watching my grown son walk around with a hollow look in his eyes and no emotion in his voice.    I can feel the guilt eating away at him.   Now we will never know why Tommy cut everyone out and wouldn't let anyone reconnect.   I hope he knows how much he was loved and admired and how much he will be missed.

 But we do know that he was a wonderful friend, brother and son.