The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - 59. The Always Hectic Month of December.

The week before Christmas was extremely hectic for the family. It all began with Joshie’s concert on Tuesday, which we were eager to attend so we could cheer him on. His fathers dressed him up again, just like they had the previous year, and Joshie looked adorable as we got ready to leave. However, that’s when we suddenly realized we had a minor problem to solve first.

The boys were very vocal about wanting to ride together, but there was no way we’d all fit in the Suburban. In order to rectify this situation, Dion and Trey offered to take their car and Danny and Brandon opted to ride with them, so the four boys could be together. Satisfied, they rode in the Suburban with Jake and me, but once we reached the school parking lot, we all went inside together.

Joshie was brimming with excitement and eager to sing with his classmates, and we were happy to be here for him. Before he went down to join his class, Dion advised him he didn’t have to wave at us this year while his group was singing and Joshie agreed he wouldn’t do that. Then, the rest of us watched as Dion and Trey followed him down to his classroom.

We had to wait a while before the concert began, so Elliot and Noah went off on their own to check out the school, before they came back to sit with the rest of us. Since he hadn’t attended school here when he was younger, Noah was interested to see what the elementary school was like. Elliot had conducted a similar investigation last year but chose to go with his brother anyway, so he could look out for him. I guess the school must have passed Noah’s cursory inspection, because it wasn’t long before they returned to their seats.

Shelly and her parents arrived a short time later, eager to see Joshie perform as well. Joshie had asked his father to call and tell his mother and grandparents about the concert, because he wanted to make sure they would come to see him sing too. Once she learned about it, Shelly told Joshie they wouldn’t miss it for the world, so he was pleased.

We had to sit through the Kindergarten performance before the first graders came out to sing. This year, Joshie’s group sang “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer” to the delight of the audience. They did remarkably well with these songs and enhanced their performance by using a few props. During the first number, several of the students (including Joshie) shook sleigh bells at the appropriate moments, and then during the second number, a select group dragged out a paper mache reindeer, complete with a lighted red Christmas bulb nose.

Joshie kept his promise and didn’t wave to us this year, but once he located where we were sitting he flashed us the biggest grin, which made us feel very special. I guess it was his way of thanking everyone for coming to support him. I could tell his grin had a very positive effect on Shelly and her parents, because I saw them all coyly waving back at Joshie while he was singing.

Once Joshie’s grade finished and they returned to their classrooms, we sat and listened to the second, third and fourth graders perform too. They all did very well and watching their performances truly helped to lift us into the Christmas spirit, even if we may have already been leaning in that direction.

Once the concert ended, Dion and Trey led Shelly and her parents down to Joshie’s classroom, so they could say goodbye and tell him how much they had enjoyed his singing. Once again, Joshie asked each of them if he did okay and if they liked the songs his class had sung, and they all assured him they had. He did the same thing to the rest of us on the way home, so Elliot and Noah spent most of the ride telling him how fantastic he and his class had been. They also started singing the same two songs with him until we reached the house, and I must admit that it looks like Joshie will have a marvelous singing voice too, once it is fully developed, just like his mother and father.

On Wednesday, it was Noah and Dion’s turn to perform. I say this because Noah will be singing, and since Dion is the vocal music instructor, he will be conducting the chorus. Dion was the one who talked Noah into joining the group in the first place and he’d told us that Noah has some vocal talent as well. We hadn’t really heard him sing very often around the house, so we willingly accepted Dion’s professional assessment.

Once again, the fathers rode in one car, while the boys piled into the Suburban with Jake and me, as we made our way to the middle school to watch Noah perform. I think Joshie was more excited about this than Noah and he told his slightly older cousin that he hoped he did as well as his class had done, which put a lot of pressure on Noah. Of course, Joshie was also anxious because his father was going to be leading Noah’s group too.

This concert was slightly different, in that it wasn’t all singing. The middle school orchestra and band performed first, under the direction of the instrumental music teacher. They were then followed by the fifth/sixth grade chorus and after they finished the seventh/eighth grade chorus took the stage. Dion directed both of these final two groups, so he would be on stage for half of the concert.

The wait proved to be frustrating for Joshie, because he first kept asking when his daddy was going to be on stage and when Noah was going to sing. With each query, we kept telling Joshie he just had to be patient, which is a quality he has yet to master.

After listening to the instrumental groups do their thing, Dion came out with the younger group first. Joshie was excited to see his daddy up there and even yelled out to him.

“Hi, Daddy,” he shouted, so Dion could hear him – much to the amusement of those in attendance.

Before they began to sing, Joshie scrutinized the chorus and realized Noah wasn’t there. This bothered him.

“Where’s Noah?” he wanted to know.

“This isn’t his class,” I heard Elliot advise him. “He’ll be in the next group.”

Although Joshie wasn’t happy about this, he accepted Elliot’s answer. Once that group finished performing, Noah’s choral group finally came out and the students moved to their assigned places. Joshie was thrilled that Noah was about to perform.

The seventh/eighth grade chorus sang three selections: “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,” “The Little Drummer Boy” and then they ended with “The Rose.” This is a pop song that had been made famous by Bette Midler in the late 1970’s, but the lyrics are very beautiful. I think the message in the lyrics was what Dion was trying to impart to his students and the audience when he selected it. After all, Christmas is the time to spread peace and love.

Just in case you aren’t familiar with the lyrics, I will give them to you now. Not only are they beautiful, but I also think they impart a very special, and appropriate, message.

Some say love, it is a river

That drowns the tender reed

Some say love, it is a razor

That leaves your soul to bleed

Some say love, it is a hunger

An endless aching need

I say love, it is a flower

And you, its only seed

It’s the heart, afraid of breaking

That never learns to dance

It’s the dream, afraid of waking

That never takes the chance

It’s the one who won’t be taken

Who cannot seem to give

And the soul, afraid of dying

That never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely

And the road has been too long

And you think that love is only

For the lucky and the strong

Just remember in the winter

Far beneath the bitter snow

Lies the seed

That with the sun’s love, in the spring

Becomes the rose.

Once they finished singing this song, the concert ended. I thought it had gone very well and felt Noah’s group had performed brilliantly. I had also noticed that Noah was smiling throughout the entire time he was on stage, but I’m not sure if it was because he enjoyed singing, liked showing off for the rest of us or if he was pleased that we had all come to watch him. Whatever the reason, it was good to see he was happy and truly enjoying himself.

During the ride home, Joshie kept pestering the other boys to sing Christmas songs with him again. Seeing it was easier to give in than to argue the point, the others agree. Therefore, Jake and I were serenaded during the entire ride home.

Once we got to the house, Noah asked what we thought of the concert, but I think Dion was just as interested to hear what we had to say. Noah carefully avoided asking what we thought about how he had done, because he realized we couldn’t single his voice out of that large group, but he did want to know if we’d enjoyed being there. We assured him we had, and Elliot and Joshie raved about how well his group had done, so it seemed to be enough to satisfy him.

After the boys had finished with Noah, Joshie decided that he didn’t want to leave his daddy out of this assessment and eagerly evaluated his contribution.

“You did really good too, Daddy,” Joshie told him. “But why didn’t you sing?”

“Thank you,” Dion responded, “but this concert was for the kids to sing, not me.”

Dion’s answer seemed to answer his son’s question, so Joshie raced off with the other boys.

The following evening was Elliot’s turn to shine. Just as he had done last year, he was going to play with the orchestra and then accompany the chorus, but he hadn’t divulged any further information about his involvement than that. This made us curious about why he was being so secretive this time around, but it’s possible he merely concluded we already knew what he’d be doing, since we’d seen him perform with these groups the previous year.

After finishing another rushed dinner, Danny and Brandon offered to drive tonight and asked Dion and Trey to ride with them. The boys still wanted to be together, so they’d be going with Jake and me again, but we’d have to leave before the others, because Elliot wanted to be able to go to the music room first, so he could limber up on the piano there.

However, before we were ready to leave the house, Elliot surprised us with an additional announcement. He informed us he had invited Ian to come to the concert with us this evening, rather than Hayden, and wanted to know if I’d mind swinging by Ian’s house to pick him up. If not, he said he could call and let Ian know he should have his parents drop him off at the school instead. Since Ian’s place isn’t very far out of our way and we were leaving with plenty of time to spare, I readily agreed to do this for Elliot. After hearing my response, he gave Ian a quick call to let him know we were on our way.

Even after picking Ian up, we still arrived at the school well ahead of the scheduled time for the concert to begin. When Elliot left us to go to the music room, I led the boys to the auditorium. We selected seats in the front, on the left side, where we would have the best view of the piano. Then we got comfortable and waited.

Joshie and Noah talked the entire time and continually asked Jake and me questions, such as how long it would be before Elliot came out, if we knew what songs he’d be playing or if he would have a solo. We answered them as best we could, but seeing Elliot hadn’t shared this information with us, there wasn’t a great deal we could say.

Jesse and Ian chose to sit at the end of the aisle, so we could save the seats in between for the two sets of parents who hadn’t arrived yet. Over the times he’s been with us, I’ve noticed that Ian is a very polite and charming boy, so I can easily see why Elliot and he have become friends. Although I’m glad that Elliot asked him to join us, I hope it didn’t prevent him from also inviting Hayden.

When the concert started, the orchestra was up first. When they came out to play, Elliot walked out and took his seat at the piano. Once he got comfortable, he looked around and located us. As soon as Joshie and Noah saw him looking in our direction they began waving at him, which caused Elliot to smile. Joshie, however, didn’t yell ‘hi’ to him this time, as he had last year or as he had also done with his daddy.

As we expected, Elliot still had to perform on an upright piano, but he didn’t appear to be as put out about doing it this time. We still understood he would have preferred to play on a baby grand, like the one he had at home, but he willingly made this adjustment. A few moments later, his instrumental music teacher/conductor lifted his baton and gave the orchestra the signal to begin.

The orchestra played four pieces in total, which consisted of two Christmas songs and two traditional selections. Once again, they played very well and we didn’t hear the typical squeaky strings or catch any serious miscues from the other instruments. We did detect a couple of sour notes, but those missteps were spread out over the various numbers and didn’t have a major negative impact on any single piece or their overall performance.

Once again, we thought Elliot had done a masterful job at the keyboard and Noah and Joshie clapped very loudly to show their appreciation when each song ended. None of us had detected any errors Elliot might have made throughout the four selections and he looked very pleased when the audience gave them a heartfelt round of applause following each number.

After those playing in the orchestra took their final bow and began to leave the stage, I was surprised to notice that Elliot was staying put. Then he began to play a medley of Christmas songs as the band members came out and took their places. They used the same seating arrangement as the orchestra and were ready to play after a very brief transition. Elliot wasn’t part of this group, but we all remained patient and politely listened to their musical program, as Elliot sat quietly at the piano, waiting to perform with the chorus. The band also played four selections and did fairly well, but once they received their final ovation and left the stage, the chorus strode out on the stage to take their turn.

As the choral members assumed their positions on the risers, which were located behind the area where the orchestra and band had been seated, Elliot played a version of “The Holly and The Ivy” that I had never heard before. This made me wonder if this was a professional arrangement I was unaware of or if Elliot had tweaked it himself.

Once the last of the singers were in place, Elliot watched the vocal music teacher and began to play on cue. The chorus also performed four selections, beginning with two Christmas songs. First, they sang “Silver Bells” and then followed up with the “Carol of the Bells.” After they finished those two pieces, they switched to two secular selections.

The first of these was “Seasons of Love,” from the musical “Rent.” You may not recognize the title of this song, but I’m sure you will recognize the first stanza. It goes like this:

“Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?”

This particular selection gave Elliot a very nice solo on the piano before the chorus joined in. I thought he played it brilliantly, as the melody flowed from the introduction to the point where the vocals began.

Once this song ended, the chorus closed the evening with “This is the Moment,” from the musical “Jekyll and Hyde.” This proved to be a very rousing finale and brought the audience to its feet. They were all clapping, whistling and cheering loudly, as the chorus members, Elliot and the vocal music teacher took their final bow.

Once the ovation ended and the vocal music teacher got the audience to quiet down and retake their seats, she began to speak.

“I wish to thank all of you for coming and showing your appreciation of what your sons, daughters, friends and neighbors have accomplished this evening. However, before I let you depart, I have one final announcement to make.

“On behalf of all of those who performed this evening, we wish to thank Elliot Currie, our pianist, for playing with the orchestra and chorus again this year, as well as providing the musical interludes while the groups were changing. Although we can’t take credit for his talent, since the school doesn’t offer piano lessons, the orchestra director, Mr. Burns, and I were able to persuade Elliot to share his extraordinary ability with us. It isn’t often that we come across such an accomplished pianist at the high school level and I can only add that we hope he’ll be willing to perform with us in the years to come, since he is just a sophomore.

“Please join me in expressing our sincerest appreciation for sharing his skills this evening with a final round of applause.”

After she finished speaking, the auditorium filled with a thunderous applause, as those in attendance showed their approval of Elliot’s performance. As I shifted my gaze from Elliot and glanced over at Noah, I could tell he was absolutely blown away by the special recognition Elliot had just received. Ian also wore a huge smile on his face and seemed to be involved in an animated conversation with Brandon as they applauded.

When we met up with Elliot a few moments later, he had a ‘Cheshire cat’ grin plastered across his face and joked that he wasn’t prepared to sign autographs. Even though we knew he might end up with a swelled head from this, we all congratulated him, but Noah went way beyond what the rest of us had done. He was finding it difficult to come up with enough superlatives to describe how well he thought Elliot had played and let him know he was proud to be his brother, but apparently he wasn’t the only one who’d been impressed.

“That was spectacular, Elliot,” Ian gushed, while also flashing Elliot a broad smile. “I knew you could play, but wow, that was really great!”

As we made our way out of the auditorium, several other people came up to Elliot to pat him on the back, shake his hand or tell him ‘great job.’ Since Elliot enjoys this kind of attention, he was soaking it all in and happily accepted these additional accolades.

Once we were outside and making our way to the car, Joshie began talking a mile-a-minute to Elliot. He not only told his cousin what a great job he’d done, but he also wanted to know why Elliot hadn’t played the Peanuts Theme for him. Elliot laughed and assured Joshie he’d do that for him when they got home, which seemed to make Joshie happy.

Once we were in the Suburban, Noah continued expressing his thoughts.

“You were amazing,” he gushed. “Nobody else got singled out for what they did except you. That was so awesome.”

“Yeah, it was really nice,” Elliot replied. “I wasn’t surprised that she thanked me, but I didn’t think she’d say all that other stuff.”

As soon as Elliot finished speaking, Joshie began to pester the boys to sing more Christmas carols with him, as he had after the previous two concerts.

“I’m all out of songs, Joshie,” Elliot replied, “but why don’t you ask Ian if he knows any?” Elliot then gave Ian a wink.

“Will you sing something, Ian? Pretty please,” Joshie begged.

“Hmmm, I think I remember a song,” Ian answered, as he smiled at Elliot.

Ian cleared his throat and then in a light, melodic voice began to sing.

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas,

Let your heart be light

From now on our troubles will be out of sight

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Make the Yuletide gay,

From now on our troubles will be miles away

“Here we are as in olden days

Happy golden days of yore

Faithful friends who are dear to us

Gather near to us once more.

“Through the years

We all will be together

If the Fates allow

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough,

And have yourself A merry little Christmas now.”

As he sang, Ian reached over and held Elliot hand in his. Noah and Joshie didn’t notice this, since they were sitting in the seat in front of them, next to Jesse, but I happened to spot what was going on when I glanced in the rearview mirror. When Jake noticed that I seemed to be intently focused on something, he turned around to see what I was staring at. Once he discovered what had garnered my attention, he turned forward again. As he did, he glanced in my direction and we traded knowing smiles.

We pulled up to Ian’s house just as he was finishing the song. As he looked over at Elliot, both of them began to blush and then he gave Elliot’s hand a final squeeze before saying goodnight.

As soon as he disappeared inside, we continued on to our place. When we arrived at the house the others were already inside, so Noah and Joshie dashed off to be with their fathers. Jake and I held on to Elliot for a moment to discuss what we saw on the ride home.

“You should have kissed him,” Jake offered, as he smiled.

“Huh?” Elliot asked, confused.

“We noticed that Ian and you were holding hands while he sang for Joshie,” I explained. “I think that might mean someone has a boyfriend.”

“Ummm, yeah,” Elliot confirmed, with a blush.

“How long has this been going on?” I asked.

“Not long. Only since Thanksgiving,” Elliot confirmed.

“So this started when he stayed at the house?” Jake wondered. “Why didn’t you say anything then?”

“I don’t know,” Elliot stated. “I guess it might be that Ian and I were still getting used to the idea.”

“I won’t ask for any details,” I began, “but you boys are being safe. Right?”

“We haven’t done anything like that yet,” Elliot confessed. “We’ve agreed to take things slowly, since this is the first relationship for both of us. When that time comes though, I promise we’ll be very careful.”

“Then I’m glad you found each other,” I assured him. “Ian’s a very nice boy and I think we all like him very much, including your dads.”

“I still think you should have kissed him,” Jake teased, as he winked at Elliot.

Now that this had been settled, we went inside to join the rest of the family. Almost as soon as the door shut, Elliot went into the family room and kept his promise to Joshie by playing the Peanuts Theme. This made Joshie very happy, but then Elliot discovered that some of the others wanted to request that he play various other tunes as well. Noah wanted him to play “Seasons of Love” next, but Elliot said it wouldn’t sound right without the vocals. Hearing this, Dion quickly assured Elliot it wouldn’t be a problem, but asked him to wait a minute before he started. After Elliot agreed, Dion exited the room and left the rest of us wondering where he was going.

What none of us realized was that Dion had gone to his computer, so he could look up the lyrics for that song. Once he found them, he printed out several copies to bring back with him. He also did something else, but none of us would know about that until later. When he returned to the family room, Dion passed the copies out and then announced that he thought we had enough decent voices in the family to do the vocals along with Elliot’s accompaniment. Hearing this, Elliot spun around on the bench and began to play.

Following Dion’s lead, the rest of the family belted out the lyrics to the song, while Jake and I chose to sit back and enjoy their effort. We thought they were doing very well without us and didn’t wish to diminish their effort by adding our less than trained croaking.

Once that song ended, Dion asked Elliot if he would mind playing “This is the Moment” again, so he could sing it with him. Dion said he’d been contemplating doing a benefit to raise donations for the local food bank, so they could better assist the families of the unemployed and others who were finding it difficult to make ends meet in the current economy. Dion also stated that he thought this might be a wonderful song to use for this occasion and just wanted to test it out, to see how it sounded with him as the soloist.

After Elliot agreed, Dion then asked me if I’d be willing to record it for him, so he could play it back and analyze it later. I quickly agreed and then went to grab the appropriate equipment from his room. He had a fairly sensitive recording device that he kept there, specifically so he could playback various performances and evaluate them for himself.

Once I had it set up, Elliot began to play and Dion began to sing. The rest of us settled in to listen, but we remained very quiet so we wouldn’t interfere with the recording. Dion was absolutely brilliant as he belted out the song and I immediately realized this was obviously not the first time he had sung it. I don’t think anyone could master the lyrics and the phrasing so well on their first attempt, so it was quite apparent that he had either been practicing this in private or he’d been listening to a great many recordings of this particular piece prior to this evening. Anyway, once he finished we all raved about his brilliant rendition, but he merely stated that he’d listen to it later and make that decision for himself.

As the rest of us were leaving the family room and heading to our bedrooms, Dion asked Elliot to stay behind, so they could talk. Once the last of us had departed, Dion turned to Elliot and asked him a question.

“I was wondering if you would agree to accompany me when I do the benefit?” he began. “I’m going to perform locally first, probably at the high school, but I’m not sure how much money we’ll be able to drum up just doing it there. I mentioned the idea to a friend of mine and he suggested I might want to do a second benefit at Penn State. He said he had contacts there and could arrange it for me, so maybe we can collect even more for the food bank by performing for the extended college community, staff and faculty. What do you think?”

Elliot was tongue tied for a few moments and didn’t know how to respond. He was ready to agree to do it locally, but the thought of going to Penn State and performing there was a little overwhelming. When Dion saw his reticence, he assured Elliot he was confident he could do this and explained that he really wanted them to do it together. After a little more coaxing, Elliot agreed and Dion went off to outline exactly what songs he wanted to perform and in which order.

When I heard what the pair had agreed to, I was not only pleased that they had decided to team up, but I was also extremely confident their collaboration would be well worth the price of admission for those who decided to attend. Over the years, Dion has built an outstanding reputation as a soloist, so I am confident this will help him attract a large enough audience to make a significant and positive impact for the community food bank.

I also knew a collaboration of this magnitude wouldn’t happen until early next year, since there are numerous arrangements that have to be made first. They need to design the advertising to publicize the event and print the programs that will be distributed to the attendees. Besides taking care of those details, they’ll also have to allow plenty of time for Elliot and Dion to practice together first. I can’t wait to see how this works out, but I’m certain many of our family and extended family will be there for each performance.

Now that the school concerts were behind us, it was time to turn our attention to a couple of other matters that required our attention, beginning with the following evening. That’s because Shannon’s birthday is tomorrow and he’ll be turning twenty-seven. We wanted to be with him and help him celebrate, but it just isn’t possible for all of us to travel to Atlanta to be with him, because of the time of year and the other things we have going on. For that reason, Jake and I at least wanted to call and relay our best wishes to let him know we hadn’t forgotten.

“Hi, son. Happy Birthday!” Jake told him, when Shannon answered the phone. “I wish I was there with you, but we just couldn’t work it out this year. Josh and I wanted to call you though, so we could wish you our best personally on this special day.”

“Happy Birthday, Shannon,” I yelled into the receiver, once Jake finished talking.

“Thank you, both of you,” he responded. “I wish you were here too, but I understand. That’s what happens sometimes when your birthday is so close to Christmas”

“Speaking of that, I’ll bring your birthday and other presents with me when I come to celebrate Christmas with you at the Lawrences,” Jake assured him. “Since that’s only a week away, I’ll be seeing you real soon.”

“I know and I’m looking forward to seeing you then too,” Shannon assured his father.

“I’m sorry I won’t be there with you,” I added, “but we’ll have a houseful here as well.”

“I know and I understand,” Shannon replied. “At least next year we’ll all be together for Christmas.”

Jake and I agreed that will be wonderful and we’re definitely looking forward to it. We then chatted with Shannon a little longer before ending the call. I know Jake sincerely misses being with his son for his birthday, but I do too. The problem is, the distance, the number of people we’d have to take with us and the other things we have going on makes our being there for him impractical.

Immediately after we got off the phone with Shannon, I called Steve Shay next. I was working with Mary and him to arrange a birthday party for Vinnie the following evening, when he turns twenty-six. We’d decided to do this jointly, because we all think of Vinnie as our son. I had taken Vinnie in to live with us shortly after his parents were killed on 9/11 and he lived with us until he and Kevin got their own place. Steve and Mary had adopted him, instead of me, to help Vinnie address the concerns he had that Kevin and he couldn’t be brothers and lovers too. This way, with the Shays adopting him, it meant he and Kevin weren’t brothers, so his concerns were no longer relevant. Since we are all his parents in a way, we decided to join forces when planning his party.

When we started doing this a few weeks ago, Steve first wanted to hold the party at his place. After thinking it over, I explained that I felt it would be too crowded to hold it there. As an alternative, I suggested we should just reserve one of the private dining rooms at the restaurant and have everyone meet us there. After agreeing to this arrangement, Steve insisted that he was going to pay for everything, even though I offered to split the tab with him. Although he thanked me for my offer, he said I’d already done more than my share, so Mary and he were going to foot this bill. Mary also drew up the guest list and then sent out the invitations, so now I was merely checking with Steve to make certain everything was set.

We met at the restaurant at 7:00 on Saturday evening and Vinnie was a bit surprised when he saw everyone there. He thought this was just going to be a small gathering and he was only having dinner with Kevin, Jeff, Steve and Mary. For that reason, he was shocked when he walked in and realized the rest of us were here too. Not only were all of the boys who lived locally and their partners here, but so were Sally, Susan and Alice. It was a very nice turnout.

After enjoying a couple of drinks and sharing some appetizers, we ordered our meals and then waited for them to be delivered. In the interim, we talked to Vinnie and asked how things were going at school. He told us he was thoroughly enjoying his students this year and thrilled that so many of them were making significant progress. He commented that one particular boy, who had been very withdrawn and aloof last year, was finally beginning to accept that he was handicapped and willing to learn to cope with his physical disability. In this case, his condition was the result of an accident, not a birth defect, so it had been much more difficult for him to accept and cope with his new limitations.

We told Vinnie we were glad the boy was adjusting, but we were also confident that he must have made a significant impact in getting this boy to accept what had happened to him and then adapt to it. Vinnie didn’t agree entirely, but he did admit he felt he’d helped in minor ways. He then went on to tell us that the boy finally realized he could either make the best of a bad situation or he could hide in his room and be miserable for the rest of his life. Vinnie said he wanted to believe he’d played at least a small role in helping the boy come to this conclusion, but he thought it was more likely that the boy’s parents and some of his peers had been the ones that had provided the required motivation.

Once this discussion ended, we then talked to Kevin and asked how he was making out at the pharmacy. Kevin responded by telling us that things were going well at the store and business had remained steady. He added that they haven’t had a downturn in volume after the initial ‘Frankie’ effect, even though I thought they might.

I also asked how Vinnie and he were getting along with Jeff and how he was working out at the store. Kevin said they were both enjoying Jeff’s company and that Jeff was a tremendous help at the pharmacy. Kevin told us that Jeff had removed a great deal of the pressure off of him, since Jeff was there to fill the prescriptions, and this gave Kevin a chance to do other things. Kevin now had more time to get around the store and check things out, as well as being able to make certain supplies were ordered, but it has also allowed him time to double-check the books. I think we were all glad to learn Jeff’s addition was working out so well and everyone made sure to tell him so.

Jeff then told us that he liked being here too and he couldn’t wait to move his mother to the area as well. He said he enjoyed spending time with Kevin and Vinnie, and he was glad that Kevin trusted him and gave him so much responsibility at the pharmacy, but there were still a few drawbacks. Jeff said one of those was that he missed his mother and was worried about her being alone, but he thought she’d do well once she got here, since this is such a nice community. I was pleased that things were working out so well for each of them.

After our meals were delivered and we’d finished eating, a birthday cake was brought out and set in front of Vinnie. After we sang to him and he blew out the candles, the cake was cut and a slice was given to each person there. Once we finished our cake, we gave Vinnie his presents and watched as he opened them.

It turned out to be a lovely evening and I think we all had a good time. As we were leaving, I reminded everyone that we were expecting to see them again on Christmas Eve and mentioned the time we’d be sitting down to eat. Then we all said our goodbyes and returned to our homes. I know I was happily thinking ahead to the next time we would be together again and I hoped the others were too.