The Best Man

Carl was gone to Billings, MT for work on Wednesday and it is his tradition to get Henry a new car when he travels (Hot Wheels, Matchbox, etc.). This morning Henry was the excited recipient of an Alfa Romeo. He carried it with him all day and it went for a walk with us in our neighborhood late in the afternoon. All was well until we stopped by to visit our storm grate. Henry was trying to put a long piece of grass in when...plink, plank, plunk...the Alfa Romeo met the bottom of the grate. It was visible, yet unreachable and Henry knew it the moment it went in. You would have thought he had lost a near relative for the amount of tears and sadness that came from this boy. He was distraught. All I could do was to remind him that the best thing to do was stay calm and for us to think about some ways we could get it (really I was just stalling until Carl got home). About 20 minutes later Carl got home, changed his clothes, walked with Henry to the storm grate, removed it (which I didn't even know was possible), and climbed down to retrieve it. He was our hero--especially Henry's. He was my hero because I had had a grumpy day and he showed up with two dozen roses just because. Wow. In our eyes, he really is The Best Man.