Day 236

I woke up before the sun and walked the Ringling Bridge. Benji woke up when I came home and took Kytril because his tummy hurt. Then he got dressed in his Southside uniform and never looked back. He enjoyed his first full day as a second grader, never knowing I’d been texting his teacher throughout the day.

I sent Benji’s teacher a brief explanation of his diagnosis and where he is with treatment. He told me later that they’d had a conversation in class about it. He sounded proud, and he was eager to do his homework when he came home. Just a regular second grade kid.

I worked from home, so I could be close to school if Benji needed me. He didn’t. I worked as many hours as I could, enjoying the quiet of the day, but missing my boys. I picked Benji up right on time. Banyan walked to Michael’s office, and they came home from there.

A friend of the family very generously gave us six tickets to tonight’s Tampa Bay Rays game. We brought Michael’s mother and sister and had a blast. Benji got to play a game between innings on the Jumbotron, and he won free ice cream. Both boys fraternized with the team mascot. They wound up sitting in the front row of our section. The Rays lost, but we had an amazing time.

Tomorrow Michael will take Banyan to school while I take Benji over the Skyway. Benji will be accessed, get his Erwinia shots, then decide whether to be deaccessed and whether to go back to school. One day at a time. For tonight, these boys will go to sleep with dreams of cracking wooden bats, acrobatic catches, and high fives in the dugout. Baseball dreams.

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