Giant Joy Continued

I didn't post yesterday because I was waiting for my brother Joey to stop by my house so he could upload some photos and videos he had taken on his iphone at the Giant game Sunday night. He got here kind of late. We had looked at the pictures and videos the night of the game, but Joey didn't have the hook-up for his phone, so we couldn't download them on to my computer that night. But I just wanted to continue a bit more with the Giant game theme and a special moment in time that my brother had with his boys this past weekend.

Sunday he took his sons, Robert and Jojo, to their first football game...the New York Giants. How lucky, their first game, their favorite team and a big win. It was, to say the least, an absolutely awesome and memorable day, for Joey and his boys.

After Joey dropped the boys off with their mom Sunday night he stopped by my apartment as I live upstairs from the boys and their sister Bella. Been here since before the divorce...if it's not broken, why fix it? But he was showing me his pictures and a few videos he filmed to show me the excitement of the game. As he's flipping through the videos he comes upon one that he didn't film, didn't see Jojo film it. As usual our Jojo, he can be so quiet and soulful and mushy as well as off-the-wall funny, smart, sharp and sly. And he's charming.

A few years ago I was watching all three of the kids and putting them to bed. They all were in their parents bed, watching TV, winding down a bit before lights out. Of course I'm super easy with them, they can con me easily. But I was downstairs relaxing, because as anyone who knows about kids, three kids, probably 7, 5 and 3 at the time, I was exhausted after spending a few hours with them. Just needed to not think for five minutes, not hear, just chill, was drinking a bottle of water.

So I'm downstairs for I'm sure less than five minutes when either Bella or Robert is telling on Jojo for something, and probably Bella, such a girl! I go upstairs, still holding the bottle of water, as well as my cell phone. Whenever I watch these kids, to this day, all I say when they push me too far, again because I'm way too easy, is I'm calling your father, so I have my phone with me. Holstered at my hip! With their dad, when he says stop, it usually stops.

Whatever Jojo was doing I told him to stop and he, out of the three of them, can get me with with a look, his charm radiates off of him, like his father, to know him, is to love him. I said come on, we had a nice night, it's time for bed, do you really want me to call your father and I take a drink of water.

In one of the Austin Powers movies, one of Mike Meyer's characters says "father" with a silly accent, kinda sounds like fazzure. So again I was asking Jojo if he wanted me to call his father and he looks at me so seriously but with the Austin Powers' accent, "Call my fazzure, I don't care." Robert and Bella were ready to burst with laughter but looked at me first, was I going to laugh? I spit the water out of my mouth cracking up and Robert and Bella joined in. He got me that Jojo. The three of them are funny, but Jojo's got that extra oomph.

My brother Bob told me that recently he came to see the kids at their dad's house. They were all playing outside with the neighborhood kids, a nice size gang on the street they live on. Bob said something, a comment about what they were doing and none of them paid him any attention or if they did it was a look like, are you from another planet. As Bob is walking inside the house he hears Jojo real low but loud enough for all to hear, "awkward." He has timing. Doesn't need to push his humor most of the time. He's a kid, he does get crazy and can push the best of us to the edge, but again for the most part, this kid has comedic timing down pat and the things he says just get you.

I didn't call their dad that night, the comic interlude brought them all up wide awake and they crashed down just as fast, even Jojo.

So getting back to the golden find on Joey's iphone. Joey was flipping through the videos and when he played this one his heart just soared, as did mine. Just a few seconds of Jojo expressing his Giant Joy.

Jojo says it, means it and shows it, this was a Giant Day, a Giant Memory!

I love a line from the Billy Joel song These Are The Times To Remember:

This is the time to remember
Cause it will not last forever.

How true...