Visit With Uncle

Today The Kid took the long trip to visit Uncle with me.  It has been a tough decision for Tru Stories whether to let the visit take place.  The deciding factor is that Uncle has been gone a long time.  He is in much better shape than the last time The Kid saw him. 
I like traveling with The Kid.  We like to look for Hawks.  Today we saw 11.  It was more me looking for Hawks today.  The Kid is able to read in the car.  I cannot do that because I get carsick.  He told me he was making good use of his time by reading until it got dark.  The Kid did quite a bit of reading this week-end.  He was able to finish Henry Huggins.  He is not\w well into 39 Clues, Book 3.  The Kid came home with me last night.  We have done quite a bit of reading.
The visit started out great.  As you can see by the picture, Uncle looks good.  He was in good spirits.  He was happy to see The Kid.  He loves his nephew.  He is very protective of his nephew.  As usual, we stopped and picked up McDonald's to take for Uncle.  We also had a bag of snacks.  My son noticed immediately that I had my hair cut.  He complimented me on it.  Those two boys always notice my hair.  Uncle said he had been out in the yard area today.  He got some fresh air and did some running.  That was good to hear.  Two weeks ago, he could hardly walk, let alone run.  Every visit I see improvements.  About 35 minutes into the visit things started going downhill.  Uncle went on one of his rants.  He was not yelling but he was not happy.  I was finally able to get someone on the staff to look for Joel's wallet.  He has been complaining that he could not find it.  When he was at the hospital they kept it locked up.  When he left the hospital they had all his stuff together.  When he got to the other facility the wallet never got checked in.  That means either the driver took it or the person that checked him in took it.  One night I was asking about a sweatshirt I had given him.  A lady said he had given some things away when he first arrived.  I am going to say that makes me lean towards that lady as stealing from him.  Why?  Because no matter how out of his head my son is, he does not give things away.  If a person needed $1 to survive, he would say he did not have a $1.  My son is not a giver.  He would not let someone borrow his clothes.  He would NEVER give someone his clothes.  If he had his wallet, he would not have misplaced it.  I do not think he had very much money in the wallet.  Unfortunately, his license was in there and some personal things that meant something to him.  We will probably have to listen to how his wallet was stolen every visit now!
That made The Kid uneasy.  What really upset him was Uncle started saying he wanted to come home.  He talked about being lonely.  That he misses being home.  He is cold at night.  The room is at the end of a hall and it scares him.  He did not start yelling about wanting me to take him home.  He talked quietly about wanting to come home.  My grandson did not cry.  At one point I saw him turn his head, get tough, turn back and give my son a big smile.  He is a brave and loving kid.  Uncle calmed down before we left.  He gave each of us a hug.  He asked that we start calling him more. 
I asked The Kid if he was sorry he went to visit.  He said he has mixed emotions.  (Seriously, that is exactly what he said.  He does not speak like most 10 year old boys.) He was glad to see Uncle doing so well.  He even told Uncle he looked a million times better than the last time he saw him.  The hard part is knowing Uncle is sad.  That is hard for all of us.  We took the sad walk to the car.  Both of us quietly got in the car.  I said, are you alright.  The Kid said, no.  He was choked up.  I said, it is fine to cry.  He started sobbing.  Not for very long.  We stopped back at McDonalds.  Picked up food for us.  Sat in the parking lot until we were ready to head back home.
We did some in depth talking on the way home.  We also stopped and bought winter green life savers and I showed my grandson how if you crunch them hard sparks fly.  He enjoyed that.  We make good traveling companions.
The Kid decided he needs another night at my house.  He said after his "trauma" he will feel better if he stays here.  He is already curled up in his favorite chair reading.  I am going to do the same thing.  It has been a long day.  I think tomorrow might be a pajama day!