Leif on New Years Day in 2007 and 2008, his last New Year

We rarely spent New Years Eve with Leif once he was grown. He usually spent it with friends or his current romantic interest, except for the year he was in Bosnia. But on New Years Day, he often was with us for dinner and the evening. We will miss him this year.

The past two years, his brother, Peter Anthony, was here with his family, and Leif had a lot of fun with his nieces, Madeleine and Aly, who took to Leif from the beginning. He played chess with Madeleine, gave Aly rides and held her upside-down by one foot, played silly games with them and made videos of them cutting up on his cell phone. I found they were still on the phone after he died. In the last few years of his life, I rarely saw him as happy as he was then.

The last day we were all together, on January 7th just after midnight, I insisted that Darlene take a photo of Peter W. and I with our two sons. It's the last photo we have of the four of us together. Leif looks happy and amused. You never know when a photo you take of someone you love will be the last, or when you've said your last goodbye. We did see Leif three more times after this, on his birthday, out to dinner in February, and for Easter dinner at our house. Only three. At least each time was a good time, and we hugged each other and told him we loved him . . . and he said, "love you, too."