We were walking near the footbridge behind College Woods Park.  It was a nice warm day, the sun was out.  Late spring, I think.  You decided to go swimming, which wasn't an issue to me.  You were the one who was going to be wet.

So you're swimming back and forth in the cold river, happy as anything.  I'm on the shore watching you when I noticed the swans.  So beautiful they were.  Mom had a bunch of little cygnets following it around.  Dad was just swimming around.  I think it was a perfect-ish day. 

Then daddy swan got mad at you for swimming in his river.  I didn't realize it at first but he stopped idly swimming and started coming right at us.  I called to you and you left the river, but daddy swan wasn't havening it.  He wanted us GONE.  So, here we are running away from a swan in the middle of the woods.  

You stopped and shook off the water, getting me wet as well.  Two wet guys in the woods.  Thank God nobody saw us, they would have wondered what was up...  you were dripping so much.

That was a great day, Natey.  I still miss you terribly, but even more on your birthday.

Happy birthday, Nate.

I went and visited my sister on Sunday, Jan 18th. It started to snow, so I left... nervous with the Eagles leading in their playoff game. Stopped at Walmart and eventually got home around nineish for the evening. I fell asleep watching TV, an occurence that happens too frequently I think, and woke up around 4am. I looked out the window to see how much snow we had and realized that a different car was parked where I left mine. Now.. I did a LOT of searching in my sleep infused mind and realized that indeed my car was gone.

I called the PD around 7am to see if they had any idea (New Haven just LOVES to tow cars). They didn't. I had to report it stolen. What a drag. I called my insurance company to report the claim and get that ball rolling. Then began the worrying. No car, loan payoff about equal to car's worth. I'm going to have to get a car and do 100% financing. Looking at doubling my payment. How am I going to pay my bills?

On Wednesday, I was walking through the ice encrusted streets, freezing my willy off and looked at my phone to check the time. I saw that I had a new voice mail and missed a call around 11:30 the previous night. I listened and the PD had found my car. Abandoned, obviously hot-wired and with some body damage.

Well, the car is now in Branford getting repaired. I have to come up with $500 for the deductible, which is gonna kill me for a month.. but it's better than losing the car entirely.