Dad writes amazing posts on Facebook… But I am not a fan of that platform because posts get lost a week later.
This is a post from him yesterday about Aiden and his recent adventures.
It was an uneventful day for Summer and her parents yesterday, as everything is kind of on hold till her surgery next Wednesday. It was a nice break for all of them. Julie and I went to their place outside of Tremont. Eric and Angela had asked if I would accompany Aiden for his court date from a speeding ticket at 1:30, and Jule went along and said she would stay at the house and do some cleaning while we were in town. We were both apprehensive about what condition we would find the place in (both inside and out). Aiden has been home alone pretty much all the time since Memorial Day weekend. He just turned 19 on Sunday, so we were prepared to see about anything. The yard was mowed and trimmed, the bushes trimmed, and the outside cats were out and about looking well fed and happy. Nice! Still expecting to find the inside needing attention, we stepped in to find nothing out of order, the dishes were done, the trash had been taken out, and the bathroom in good shape too. I was really impressed. Aiden has always been a good kid, but given the opportunity, any 19 year old left home unattended could quickly turn their family’s home into “Animal House”! We have all been so focused on Summer, as we should be, but it hit me that he is very affected by all of this too. He’s had to step up and be responsible for all of the daily activities of the house, and he’s doing a great job of it. We went to the courthouse for his scheduled appointment where they asked him if he felt he learned anything from the traffic school class. He politely responded that he had, promised to slow down driving going forward, and he got dismissed. No fine. All good. We stopped at Kroger’s on the way home so he could pick out some food to get him by for awhile. I told him he could have whatever he wanted. He chose a watermelon, a pineapple, some hamburger patties, and some cottage cheese. He didn’t want anything from the bakery, the deli, no frozen dinners, no ice cream, nothing else except a jug of cat litter for the house cat. Again, not what I expected from a guy his age. We got back to the house and Jule had just finished running the vacuum. We visited at the dining room table till he left for work. I know this update is really about Aiden instead of Summer, but yesterday made it more clear that cancer affects everyone in a family, even a little brother who is used to having his Mom’s and Dad’s daily attention.