Boston...

Boston….Our trip to boston was bittersweet, especially now in retrospect to all that has happened. I wanted to show Amy the city that I love, the city that I went to college in, the city that made me who I am today. The reason for our trip, however, was to see my friend Freddy. Freddy has had a history of battling cancer, but over the years, I was not able to go and visit. This time, however, I made it a point to go up and see him. Thursday night after work, we drove out to the airport, and arrived in Boston around midnight where my friend Frank picked us up to bring us to my sister’s apartment. We slept that night in Vanessa’s tiny, disgusting, old and dingy apartment. The only plus was that it stands 2 blocks away from Fenway Park. The next AM we awoke, had a quick breakfast of Dim Sum in Chinatown (something we both were craving for a while, as there is no Dim Sum in SW FL) and were off to see Freddy. We arrived at the rehab center, said a quick hello, and waited until some of Freddy’s other visitors had left. We then got to be there for Freddy’s PT/OT eval and then sat in the conference room in the back to catch up and chat.

Freddy was in pretty good spirits but fatigued easily, so we left at his request so he could nap. Then, we walked…..we walked from the North End, where Amy thoroughly enjoyed Mike’s Pastries Canoli’s and Lobster Tails, to government center, to Haymarket, to Shriner’s Childrens hospital where I used to work, through Beacon Hill, down through the Boston Common and Garden, down Newberry Street, down by the reflecting pool by the Christian Science Center, to Huntington Avenue, and to finally my old Alma Mater Northeastern University, before heading back to Fenway to change for dinner. We met a bunch of my friends for dinner in Chinatown, and had a good time with everyone. We went back to Andrew and Gina’s house to hang out a bit more. The next day, we met up with Vanessa for breakfast on Newberry St. We then met up with Lauren and Mike to tour Northeastern U. grounds again, and then took the train to haymarket. The weather was lousy!! Mike and Lauren went into a bar to watch the Master’s Golf Tournament, and we went to go see Freddy. We met Frank there again, and chatted with Freddy for a while in the conference room. Then, we bought some canoli’s from the North End, delivered them to Freddy, and drove to Gina and Andrew’s house for a little dinner party. We had an Awesome time at their house and a good time was had by all. Gina is a great cook, and the food was fantastic! Sunday morning we awoke, said goodbye to Vanessa, and drove to see Freddy for the last time. We chatted some more, said our goodbyes, and then drove to the airport back to Florida. It was the last time that I was to see Freddy. He lost the battle to cancer on May 6^th at 12:15 AM. He was a great person, an intellectual, a kind heart, and always had a compassion to help people. I’ve never lost a friend before, so it was a very difficult ordeal to handle. When he was hospitalized for the last time, we knew the inevitable was near. Hours before he passed, Frank put me on the phone with him to say my goodbye’s. I didn’t know what to say, but managed a heartfelt goodbye. Later, I wrote the following, and dedicate it to my old friend and roommate whom I will think of often, and will miss dearly.

What do you say to a friend with mere moments left to live? When all there is left is a few lapses of consciousness, a few breaths, a few words. What can you say? Do you lead with words of encouragement, or of bravery towards the unknown, or of somber words through muffled tears, hoping that those words may be special enough to make a lasting impression, to sum up all that one person can mean to you in only a few sentences. I know what you want to do. You want to recount the fun times, the idiosyncrasies that only close friends can learn about each other, reminisce about memories and experiences that you were lucky to share with one another, and even crack jokes about the stupid things that you did in the past. You want to say how much you loved that person, how much you respected their intellect, open-mindedness, passion for what they cared about, and how happy you were to have them in your life. You want them to know that they will be missed for the person that they were and that your life was better because of them. You want to say that it’s not over, they will never be forgotten, that I will not take life and things for granted. You will live, love, and succeed, just as they would have wanted for you, and helped you if they could have. If I only had 1 sentence to say to that person, I would say, “I love you, and I will miss you man, but I’ll catch you on the other side, and we’ll catch up on old times and talk about the Sox with a drink at the bar” RIP Freddy…..