Happy Birthday Charles! I hope the sun rises brightly and shines warmly on you today on your 22nd birthday. I can still see you , clear, in my minds eye, the youngest member of our crew, always running to catch up yet usually first out the door on Kids Day. Blonde hair messed up, coat on one arms and shoes in hand as you raced for your favorite spot in the back window of Thor, the huge battle ship gray Mercury land cruiser.
Charles, you were the quiet one, until vexed to the point of ignition then watchout as the flare up runs its course. But usually you would just observe what was going on. We covered lots of ground each Kid Day but you were about one year old when you joined our Saturday ranks. I was not running a power wheelchair then and so you were on my lap in the manual chair. Mark or Shelly generally pushing with James trailing after. I tried to stay in my chair with one arm round you as we sailed through parking lots Smith’s markets( Smith’s had the most free food of the stores we frequented on Saturdays), next to the down town library or up to the University’s Museum of Natural History to check out the bones. You took everything in.
Charles, I think you held Mark as an idol figure and James a close second. Whether watch Mark do his Tae Kwon Do and learning as much from observation as you could or working out with your “light saber” perfecting your Jedi skills—all the time keeping an eye on Shelly to make sure you were executed what ever you did to the perfection of Shelly’s all knowing eye. You also tried to keep up with Shell’s voluminous reading. There was no way you could keep up but the exposure helped you develop your Si- Fi or die attitude which only later mellowed into hints of fantasy, that’s Ok, it’s all good. Having you along gave color to our outings, slowed us down to light speed and helped us smell the flowers along the way. If Mark was going through his period abstinence you were “coking out’ on all the sugar you could get your hands on. I could feel the low frequency buzz emanating from you on my lap after hitting the sugar aisles of that cool weird little consignment store out on 9th East where we spent a lot of time. Eyes flared open you blazed up and down the aisles with all the other sugar “cranked up” kids as the parents looked for bargains and killed time on rainy or snowed out Saturdays.
Charles you were and are very smart. You were confused early on not knowing just how you fit into the kaleidoscope of the barely controlled energy we called “Kid Day”. I was the Dad that was for sure—but you had another dad and that was for sure and that’s Ok. What mattered most was that YOU were part of OUR crew. You are family, you always will be, you are my number six. You make me smile and proud as you evolve into the adult you are becoming. I miss not seeing you with the frequency we once enjoyed. I like your “My Space” page and will settle for that and a phone call now and then. Stay in touch my “son friend”. I hope to see you soon. Love dad AKA Big Mark
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