When Noah was young he used to stay with his uncle and me after school. We are not exactly “kid” people and we worked. The thing is that we were both self-employed and had somewhat flexible schedules. Noah started to spend the afternoons with us when he was about 4 years old. On his first after-school day his uncle explained to Noah that he was not interested in babysitting him but if he wanted to hang out with us that would be just fine. Noah was a great kid to hang out with. He never complained or whined. He and Steve would do errands together with the final errand usually finding Noah with an ice cream cone. Steve sold antique toys and would often take Noah with him to his warehouse. Steve would work while Noah tested out some of the antique toys. Noah was very careful with them and always left them in the same condition he found them in. One day when Noah was 4 or 5 Steve took him to an empty parking lot and put Noah on his lap. Noah drove the van around the parking lot. That was the beginning of many driving lessons. We all enjoyed our afternoons together. I miss the kid that Noah was but I am so grateful to know the wonderful man he has become. Noah will always stay close in my heart.
