by Lisa Ricco

Created on: January 28, 2009

In Remembrance

Danny was filled with sadness and he began to cry. He remembered the day he fell off his bike and started to cry and how the boy down the street made fun of him. When he told his grandfather he said, "Danny my boy, it's okay to cry. It's a part of life. I cry, your Dad cries. Real men aren't ashamed to show their feelings. God gave us these tears to shed. It's a gift." From then on Danny was never ashamed when he cried. Now he grabbed his grandfather's New York Mets jacket and as he tried to wrap as much of his body as he could into the jacket, he cried over the loss of his grandfather.

Danny walked into the living room and didn't say a word. He sat down on the couch next to his grandmother and put his head on her shoulder.

She put her arms around Danny and held him a little closer to her body. "So, how's my favorite boy?"

"I'm okay, Grandma. How are you doing?"

"I'm sad, and I'm angry."

"You are?"

"Your Grandfather was my best friend. He's the only man I ever loved. And now he's gone and that makes me sad and angry. But, I'm also grateful for all of the time I did get to spend with him. We had a beautiful life together, Danny. I'll be sad for a little while, but your Grandfather wouldn't want me to be depressed for the rest of my life. It wouldn't be the right way to honor him and his life. It's okay to miss him, Danny and to cry for him. But we know he's in a better place and one day we will meet again."

Danny looked at his Grandma. "I want to do something to show him I loved him but I don't know what."

Danny's father spoke, "Grandpa always said you were his best friend, and he loved you. The way we live our lives will show him that we loved him. And that's what he would want. And you and I will start that on Sunday by going to the Mets game like we planned."

Danny looked at his father and smiled. "We can still go?"

"Of course, pal. I think it will be good for the both of us."

Sunday came and Danny was excited to go to the baseball game. He couldn't wait to cheer on the New York Mets the way his grandfather did.

When it was time to go to the game Danny put on his Mets shirt, his Mets hat, and his grandfather's jacket.

They sat in their box seats along the first base line, and his dad told him stories about the players he saw while he was growing up and how the game had changed since then. This was a ritual for them only it used to be his grandfather telling him stories about Ruth and Mays. Now his dad had his own stories about Carter, Hernandez and the

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