Andrew and Joel 1981

Me, my great nephew Levi and his dad - my nephew Joel. August 12, 2009

I was blessed to be able to go home to New Mexico the first part of August. During this trip I got to meet my new great nephew, Levi. He's a little doll and I love him dearly.

What made this meeting truly bittersweet is the fact that it took place on August 12th...Andrew's birthday.

I have mentioned on my other blogs I seem to be extra tired since that trip. Probably did too much....or didn't do enough...or just wish it would have lasted longer or maybe that it would never have ended at all.

Whatever the reason I have decided that for the time being I'm going to limit my posts to this blog to one per month. I feel this blog is my most important writing and I want to give you (and me) the very best I have to offer. I think by limiting the posting I would be more apt to give it my best effort if I took my time.

It seems its been hard to begin lately, maybe the this limitation will encourage a necessity for quality...he, you, me, all of us deserve that.

Today, July 19th makes 1000 days since my precious Andrew left us.

Someone left this on my comment section today - don't know who you are , I have a hunch, but thank you anyway. It means a lot to me.

Dear readers - I have mentioned before about Andrew being in a punk band clled This Strange Device. This is a clip of one of thier performances. Andrew is the one closest to the camera - bottom left of your frame - mostly the back of his head but its him all the same.

Thank you again who ever you are - I love you for this!

(*LANGUAGE WARNING* - YOU MIGHT WANT TO TURN YOUR VOLUMN DOWN )
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I have been very tired for a while now. And in addition I have been missing Andrew so much lately. I seem to cry at the drop of a hat.

A couple of weeks ago I had a very bad night. Many things were going wrong. I couldn't sleep. I was too warm, tossing and turning endlessly. Add to that the fact that I had a terrible cough that I couldn't seem to conquer. I had coughed so much that it felt like I had pulled all the muscles in my back and ribs. Painful to move and yet I couldn't lay still. There was more but I'll stop with this since I'm starting to bore myself. But I will confess that in one moment of fatigue and frustration I silently wished I would not see another morning.

I had been awake all night when I finally drifted off just as the sky was beginning to become light. I woke up suddenly a hour and a half later having dreamed about Andrew.

In my dream Andrew came to where I was and I was so happy. I said, "Andrew I am so happy to see you." I started walking toward him as I continued. "I have been missing you and wanting to see you." At this point I put out my arms to embrace him.

He never said a word. From the beginning he had looked straight at me with a very stern look on his face. When I tried to hug him he pulled back and away from my grasp and kind of sneered at my attempted affection ever so slightly.

That was it - he was gone as suddenly as he arrived.

What did it mean? You tell me, but then again I'm sure I know.

This is a beautiful tiny lake in Santa Rosa called Blue Hole.

Its spring fed from the bottom so year round its the same temperature and this clear. The square shape you see in this picture is a diving platform. Skin divers dive down to this platform which I believe is 15 feet down. There is one below that which is 25 feet.

Andrew and his best friend Matt would spend every free minute swimming here. They would dive off the rocky edge and swim down to the first platform.

The photo below shows the rock shelf on side wall of the lake. Its so clear and so beautiful - you can look up videos about it on YouTube.

This is a photo of Andrew swimming up from the platform.

And here he is - standing on the rock shelf in photo three.

Andrew was seven years old in this picture. He was playing in the Pacific Ocean - St. Augustine if I remember correctly. His father, Grandma Nini, he and I were on vacation. We had left DisneyWorld and were head north to visit his Auntie Vera and Uncle EJ (Robert's sister and her husband).

I realize this isn't the clearest picture but I posted it for a reason. I have had two recent, very brief dreams about Andrew both having to do with water.

One was on Easter, I dreamed I was standing on a beach very much like this one. Andrew and his best friend from Santa Rosa, Matt, were swimming and playing in the water. It had no far shore so it seemed to be an ocean but it was completely still. No waves - no movement. The only ripples were the ones made by the boys. The sky was a calm haze. No sun and no real clouds just a pale apricot color. This was a particularly quiet dream - no sound that I can remember...

The other one was early this morning. I dreamed Andrew was about 13 or 14 years old and I left him while I went somewhere. I was walking down the road and the water was coming up on both sides of the road. No storm, no wind, no sound, just rising water and I begin to panic because I realized that the water was going to cover the road and I wouldn't be able to get back to where Andrew was so I gave up going the way I was and turned around to get back as fast as I could. All the time I'm watching the water and it kept rising.

I finally got back and went into a classroom where I knew Andrew was. He was sitting in a desk on the front row and the teacher was telling him not to move his desk at all - to leave it right where it was. And Andrew (being Andrew) immediately scooted it as far forward as he possible could until his nose was almost touching the blackboard. He was laughing that he had done it.

And that was it -

Joel and Andrew. Joel was born July 10th and Andrew was born August 12th.

This is probably the last picture the two of them are in. Andrew was in Joel's wedding. Joel is the groom (center) and Andrew is on his left (back row) and next to Joel (on his left and in front of Andrew) is his brother, my nephew, Ted.

On March 21st Joel and his wife Michelle welcomed their first child, a son, Levi into the world. He's a beautiful health little boy. I think he looks a lot like Joel but with dark hair like his mother.

My sister called me to tell me her grandson was here. My reaction to the news caught me by surprise. I was happy for her and for Joel and Michelle. Very very happy but at that exact moment when Vicki told me Levi had arrived I was abruptly thrust into the reality that I would never be a grandmother. Life had cheated me once again.

Please believe me when I say how happy I am for her but I would be lying if I didn't tell you the truth about the pain. For the first time in a long time it hurt as bad as losing Andrew. As she told me all about it I would gulp for air and force myself with every thing inside me to say things like "Oh, how sweet" or "Well Bless their hearts" but in between these little tiny sincere phrases I was screaming so loud no sound could come out. You know how it feels to stifle a laugh in church? Everything feels like it will explode? This is how it felt only in reverse. I thought my ear drums would burst from the pressure of holding in the scream.

I was afraid my voice would betray me and I didn't want anything to ruin her moment but as soon as I hung up the phone I grabbed a box of tissue and headed outside to the backyard swing where I sat and cried buckets for a very long time.

I cried it all out and then I was done. When Joel called me several days later I was able to talk to him without any problems. He told me all about the baby and we talked about how life would change. I love him and I couldn't be happier for him and his beautiful wife Michelle.

I look forward to seeing my new great-nephew. I have wonderful memories of my own great aunts, Carrie and Edna Mae, whom I loved very very much.

I had the strangest dream early last Sunday morning. I dreamed I was in a house. It was apparently my house but it was so bizarre. It had levels upon levels and each level was a room. The rooms would have a floor and one or two walls but no ceiling, very open. These various room were suspended and connected by staircases.

It was as though the house was in outer space as it was dark all around and there was a thunderstorm off to the left side (ha ha, I'm laughing at myself as I type...who ever heard of "the left side" of a dream) When the lightning would flash it would light up a gorgeous purple velvet clouded sky.

In my dream I was running around trying to light candles in each of the rooms in case the electricity went out. Andrew was in one of these rooms. It was like "his" bedroom. And he was dressed in a costume...a drag costume. He was getting ready to go to a party.

I didn't have a chance to stop and talk to him because I was so busy trying to get these candles lit. They were hard to light and were flickering a lot even though there was no wind.

And then I woke up!

Andrew in 7th Grade
I have mentioned before that Andrew's father was in the National Guard consequently each month he would have a weekend where he had to report for drill. Andrew and I took full advantage of these weekends to go and do things that he and I loved.
We would go to museums and antiques stores (yes Andrew loved antique stores). We regularly went to Old Town (Albuquerque) where we would spend the entire day. We would visit the great shops and eat in the wonderful restaurants like La Hacienda where we would both faithfully order red chile cheese enchiladas.

Now about the time this school picture was taken Andrew and I had our best outing ever. We spent the day in Santa Fe. It was a day I will never forget as long as I live. We both dressed up and headed out early for Santa Fe. Our first stop was the Santa Fe Plaza where we visited the Georgia O Keefe Museum located in the Palace of the Govenors. Then we had lunch at the La Fonda Hotel. We dined on, you guessed it, enchiladas in the hotel restarant and were pleasantly surprised to run into old friends. Following lunch we went to Canyon Road where we spent the afternoon going from one Gallery to another feasting our eyes on all the art.

One very special stop was at what was then called The Fenn Gallery where we saw many works by The Toas Six impressionists. Andrew was especially intriqued by the sculpture garden.

We returned home to Albuquerque by way of Galisteo where I had lived for a time before getting married. Andrew and I stopped and visited the family of the young man I had once been engaged to. Gracious and loving people I still revere.

Andrew was always good compeny no matter what his age was. Even as a young boy he was intelligent and very witty. I enjoyed every minute I spent with him. Several weeks before he passed away he was here for visit and my best friend Jody and her husband were also at our home for the weekend. When the weekend ended Jody and Kevin had enjoyed Andrew and Jamie's company so much that they made plans to get together again. Andrew was very comfortable with any age range and could always hold his own in a conversation.


It was on this trip that Andrew discovered The Ventures. I had a "greatest hits" tape and he fell in love with the music. We played the tape over and over while traveling. After much debate we finally decided that Apache was the best cut on the tape followed very closely by Telstar.

Music was one of the many things I shared with my son..