Dylan used to constantly do little drawings of basically the same character over and over. Their eyes might change or their clothes. Their shoes or activity might be next, but one constant for the longest time was the hair. They always had the same Yugimon spiky hairstyle. I used to give him a hard time about it until one time when he finally answered the question that was most on my mind when I looked at one of his drawings: “Why do they all have the same hair?” To which he replied, “That’s the only way I can draw hair.” I asked, “Have you tried something different? You can try anything. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It will get better the more you do it.” I think he said he did, but he hadn’t tried in a while. Eventually, the hair did change and I think a class he took in school pushed to do some more challeging things. In fact, his proudest drawing was one he did for a class. When I first saw that drawing, it made me think of a “Liger” (see Napoleon Dynamite). I keep meaning to post that picture.

Here is a drawing I found on a folded up piece of paper, while cleaning up after do some floor work this weekend. I would say this one is probably around the same time as the ones Jennie posted.

We miss you, son.

I don’t remember how long ago these scores of card games was, but I do know my boys weren’t old enough to play if they were even born yet and Marisa, the girl, was either too young or not here yet either. Which would have made Dylan approximately 8 or 9 years old maybe.

There is that part of me that wishes I dated the score boards. Especially now. I found these pages as I was looking for something else in our trailer camping in Santa Paula last weekend. I found on page one, none-the-less, Aunt Jennie and Dylan. Of course, I broke out in tears.

I have plenty of memories of Dylan and it never seizes to amaze me how something so small can ignite even more memories and times I had with him. He would sit and play with me when nobody else would and as always, any time he had a pen/pencil and paper near him it would turn into a reason to draw.

He amazed me how he could draw such clear a precise pictures freehand and all I could ever manage was stick figures and no imagination. I truly know that if he was given the opportunity and time he would have been an even more amazing and talented man.

He was robbed on his future but it is up to all of us to hold on to his past.

What will I remember most about my year of significant numbers divisible by 25?

The number 21.

I was starting trouble with these two while at Kevin and Meghan’s wedding.

This is probably the last picture we have of Dylan. It was taken just before we left for the Starbound competition in Redondo Beach. The date was 1/26/2014.

Update: I stand corrected. Here is one from 2/10 or 2/12:

This was such a great day.

One day when we were buying the townhome Jim was inside the office signing documents and Dylan and I were sitting in the car waiting for him. We were being silly and laughing and talking about random things. He was around 5 years old. Somehow we got on the subject of how old Jim and I would be when Dylan was…….(insert age). Dylan went through each year, or so it seemed, and I had to respond with how old Jim and I would be when he got to said age.
When we started to get up to when Dylan would be 70 or 80….. I responded with something along the lines of, well mommy and daddy may not be here when you are that old, and had to explain why. I told him that Mommy and Daddy would be very old and may not be alive when he gets to be that old. I never expected what would come next. Dylan began to cry with the thought that we would die one day. I tried to calm him down and explained that he will have a family of his own but he wasn’t letting up. He seemed to cry for what seemed like forever. He swore on that day, that he would buy a beach house that was big enough for all of us to live in, him with his wife and children and Jim and I. Marisa wasn’t born yet. I tried to tell Dylan that he would change his mind and not want to live with his old parents when he got old enough to be married and have kids of his own but he swore that we would always live together. Who was I to argue; after all he was buying us a beach house!!
By the time Jim got back in the car, everything was back to normal and I told him the wonderful news that Dylan would be buying us a big beach house someday. He was somewhat confused as to what went on while he was gone for us to come in to such a windfall. I waited until later to tell him because I didn’t want Dylan to get upset all over again.
The beach house was always something that we talked about through the years. We always reminded Dylan that he promised to buy us our beach house one day.
I guess all of those tears were for naught; as he no longer has to fret about when Jim and I die……
Hopefully one day Jim and I can buy that beach house in memory of Dylan….