Route 10

Ryan loved going out. Route 10 was his happy place... Best Buy, Five Below, Party City, Dicks, Petsmart,Target, Toys R Us... When he was younger and “feistier” in school he needed to “earn” going to the store to buy something. These last few years as he grew... his bones and muscles and ligaments all grew unevenly... and mobility became harder going out became a secret “therapy” tool of mine to keep Ryan moving well. The motivation of going to the pet store to see animals or any other store to see any kind of character held it’s own excitement for Ryan.

Party City was one of my favorite places. Ryan was a shrewd negotiator. If Nana gave him 5$ he knew he could buy 5 plastic character/movie cups. Ryan would walk up and down the isles... gathering... until at last he was satisfied. As he counted out his goods... and always ended up with 7 or 8... he would stand there, tapping his chin to indicate “thinking... thinking” with a pensive look on his face and inevitably convince me that he needed 6...

I miss waking up on a Saturday and not having a plan of someplace to go with Ryan in between the craziness of the other boys sports schedule.

I miss the negotiations at Party City.

I miss seeing the silly cats at Petsmart...

I miss having an assortment of character cups on my counter or watching Ryan insist on filling the dogs’ water bowls with a dozen half filled cups and watching him explain the different characters to the dogs as they looked intently at him and waited patiently to eat.

I miss all the small day to day minutia that most people don’t even pay attention to because life just moves fast. And we are all busy.

And rushing.

I miss the minutia.

The silly.

I just miss Ryan.