Day 61

Late this afternoon Dawn and I spent time with Damian's friends from school. We joined them during robotics practice. The regular season is over; they are now preparing for the state tournament. 

When we arrived at school we came bearing gifts. Earlier in the day, Dawn and gathered up some of Damian's computer peripherals and 3D printer filament which we brought with us this afternoon. Soon after we arrived, we had fun handing it all out. Dawn did a great job relating the story of the University of Florida sweatshirt that she bequeathed to one of Damian's friends who is a transplant from Miami. 

Damian had purchased a U of F sweatshirt over Thanksgiving break. Not long after we returned home, our dogs got ahold of it one day when Dawn was doing laundry. They proceeded to destroy it in a spirited game of tug of war. The one we handed out today was the replacement sweatshirt. Damian had no knowledge of the first one having been destroyed or the new one having been ordered. 

The kids all had fun poking through Damian's extensive keyboard collection (7!) and key caps. The universal consensus is that he had a bit of a keyboard fetish.  There were lots of jokes and laughs. Which is bittersweet of course. It's one thing to joke with your son's friends about his peculiarities; it's another thing to do it while you're handing out his belongings because he's dead and gone. Call it being light hearted with a heavy heart. Maybe in the time, the heart will grow a little less heavy. Right now it feels pretty heavy.

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