It Was Time

You know how there are some things you need to face head on, but you just can't? Well tonight, it was time to unpack the "box". It's been in my garage for over a year now. I've walked by this box a hundred times, sometimes even pausing, reflecting but not ready. There was a reason I couldn't open this box, because it was my last connection with him. It represented almost a decade of my life summed up in that one box. It was bittersweet sitting on the garage floor, and peeling back the lid. And then the memories came.......

My computer clip board with stationary still in tact.
Misc. office supplies -

The ONLY Authorized book Michael ever wrote.

And of course, Mickey Mouse, because he loved Walt Disney.

....It wasn't until I found my keys, the keys to the kingdom, that the tears came. Those keys opened so many incredible places. The one to the Elephant Barn, where Suzy and Baba lived. The movie theater with endless amounts of popcorn and candy and diet cokes :) and the sound of children laughing while watching cartoons. The dance studio where he rehearsed. And then.......the key to his home, the home he really loved and raised his children in from the day they were born. It was November 2008 when I last used those keys and closed the gates of Neverland for the last time.

Who knew, I would return just six months later to say a final good bye.
It is in these moments right now when I scream, WHY? WHY? WHY?

Damn it, it didn't have to end the way it did.....