18, Aaron. Holy shit, kid (calm down, you're 18 in about 5 hours, I can curse in front of you now, plus, I've had a couple drinks, my language is a bit loose). You're an adult. You're old enough to drive, you'd be looking at college or technical school, or backpacking across Europe in a gap year, or whatever weird thing kids are doing when they turn 18 these days. You'd be a person. A complete, fully realized, adult person. That's weird, kid, gotta admit. So, 18 is hitting your mom and I kinda hard. The idea of you at 18 is really blowing our minds. We were just barely not kids ourselves when you were born, and now we're talking about you as an adult. It's amazing to think about. As you well know, we've done a ton of work with, and fundraising for, the March of Dimes; donated money and goods to community health centers; donated craft goods to a local moms and babies' hospital for siblings of newborns; collected toys, pajamas, and games for l
Hi Aaron. I know, I know. I'm about 4 years and 11 months early for my 5-year letter to you. But something happened last night that I wanted to make sure you knew about. Your brother is visiting your Gaga and Pip this week, getting to spend some quality time with his grandparents. He and Gaga walked over to the memorial garden at Gaga's church and Sammy starting reading the names on the engraved obelisk. He got to your name, knowing full well that your name was on there, and he told your Gaga that he misses you so much, and he was sad that he never got to meet you. He also told Gaga that he didn't think she could understand that feeling he had. She told him that she missed you every day too. I idly asked your mom if maybe Sammy still remembered the time he had his tubes in and he told your mom that after everything went black (anesthesia put him under) in the bright room with all the doctors (the operating room) he got to play with an older boy. In Sammy's words the boy