Halloween, Baseball and Justin

This year the Rangers are in the playoffs well on their way to a pennant race. Halloween is just a few days away and the fall season is upon us a full month in.

I miss my boy.

Justin loved fall, Halloween and baseball.

One of my favorite memories of him is on a particularly rainy Halloween when he was about fourteen years old. It happened to be a Sunday night and the youth were hosting a fun night for the children's ministry at our church. Families arrived with nearly soaked children in tow and the fun began.

The carnival style setting left nothing to be desired. Toys, candy and face painting offered fun for every age group. Justin chose to man the small "goldfish" molded plastic pool on the covered patio in the breezeway between the two buildings of the church. The pool was a make-shift "Bob-for-Apples" activity. By the end of the evening, most of the families had made their way home, but a few of the core families were still hanging out in the kitchen.

I went looking for Justin. I found him, still on the small covered porch with about three toddlers. The water pouring off the roof into the soggy yard beyond the patio looked like a waterfall. The splattering water soaked everything including the kids. But, the children giggled and cheered as they-including my fourteen year old son-took turns bobbing out the apples. And, what, pray tell, did they do when they were done?

The littlest child would start grabbing the apples and toss them back in the pool and they made the round again.

Justin helped in the nursery at the church for a few years. One Sunday morning a little girl named Hannah came running around the corner of the lobby and squealed in delight as she buried her face in her mother's skirt. Her mother knelt beside her and asked, "What is it Hannah?"

About that time Justin walked around the corner and Hannah giggled. "See that BOY over there!"

She pointed at my J.

"He is so funny!"

Yep. That was my J. I miss him.