Sad Story ... not about us

Do any of you remember Quinn's first day of pre-school last year? Well, basically, the crescendo was that while she was out on the play ground, a little boy pushed her off the swings. The little boy cried because he was put in a time out. And then Quinn cried because the little boy cried. Quinn had to sit by the teacher in the school yard for a long time to help her feel better. She was sitting with the teacher for longer than the boy was in time out. The entire event -- him crying, not him pushing her -- was the only school story Quinn told for 6 month. The little boy's name was Jaden. He reminds me of a boy I went to school with named Chris DeRitter. Chris was never on the teacher's good side, and I always felt badly for him.

Anyway, Jaden, has a hard life much like I suspect Chris DeRitter did. His parents are/ were on drugs, and he gets shuffled between both parents and both sets of grandparents. He doesn't always behave well because he doesn't always know how to.

Quinn loves Jaden. She did that first day, and she did all year. Quinn's love for him has made me really love him too.

His father -- the 28 year old young man who told Jaden on the first day of school last that he should not push Quinn off the swing ever again -- just died from heroin intoxication. I just found out today. My heart is so broken for this little boy that I can barely function. Not sure of the details, but basically he will have a long road ahead of him with custody battles and obviously a broken heart of his own. As I was reading Aaron Garrett's obituary tonight, I kept thinking about Jaden, which made me think about Quinn. Earlier today I asked Quinn if we could have Jaden over to play. I told her that Jaden is sad, and that maybe we could help. She said, "Ok. Today? How 'bout right now? Jaden is nice." It made me want to be 3.