The first day of school made it impossible for Michael to discount any longer that his best friend, Jon, moved to Baton Rouge this summer; as he tried to sleep, an uncontrollable sadness swept over him as the loss become unignorable.
Talking about school yesterday, Alex used the phrase, "the friends I know." You can easily read into that that he understands everybody else are simply friends he doesn't know yet. Michael is not like Alex, and is instead is similar to me; his way is to have a few, very close friends, but as rewarding as that can be it also carries a significant penalty when you lose one.
As an adult, I can minimize the impact of distance in the modern world, but that doesn't help you when your friend isn't at your lunch table or hanging out at recess. The only hope I could offer him last night was the idea that if we returned to Mardi Gras once more this year, I bet Jon would come see us. The idea of hanging out with Jon during the carnival parades made him happy, and it also made it more likely that we will once more return to New Orleans in February.
RAP (8.27.2008)
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