Boston Fire Kills Father of our Friend

A kid the Boy has been friendly with for many years lost his father last night in a devastating fire in Boston. The kid's dad was a Boston firefighter, one of two killed and 11 injured last night. There was a terrible fire last night in West Roxbury. It was a huge fire that started in a Chinese restaurant and spread to a couple of other stores. The loss of firefighters is always terrible. The loss of a man you knew, a father of a kid you've loved for years, it just breaks my heart.

The kid we know, we've known a very long time. He's an unusual kid, troubled at times, absolutely daring and filled with fun but dangerous antics. He's from a large family, although his father only had one other child with his mom. The mom is VERY troubled and has some serious issues that have created big problems for the kid we love. The dad, steady as a rock. A really good solid man. He tried his best to care for one autistic son, and our friend who has his own set of issues. The Mom stood in the way of every possible improvement. The kid was happy living with his dad, the court made him live with his mom.

This is a kid who has a smile as big as the ocean. He's funny and sweet and a kid I adore. Even when the Boy and he grew somewhat apart, he was still always the kid I hugged first and hardest at every event. This is the kid that can't catch a break, and yet he always has a smile and a funny thing to say. Sometimes he is like a stone wall because so many shitty things have happened already in his young life. But this, the loss of his father, this is too painful to bear.

I sit here sobbing because life is so unfair. This kid started out in life just like all our kids did. He was a tiny baby with a chubby tummy and a head of nappy hair. He gurgled and smiled and loved his parents and his brothers and sisters. He grew up to be a funny but troubled kid in elementary school. His mother was having babies left and right, he was crowded out of their house, his dad was kept away because of the mother's antics and behavior, and then trouble started happening in school. With each crazy stunt the kid pulled, I would take him aside and talk to him and ask him what was he thinking to do something so dumb. And he pulled some real winners, this kid. But through it all, he never lost that goofy smile and that "oh, I dunno" demeanor. He wanted to be better, but he just didn't ever have the right kind of guidance.

This year he changed schools and went into the same program as the Boy and I got to see him often. I feel like in some way I needed to look out for him, because I know about the times he wandered around town all night long when his mom locked him out of the house. I know about how he basically lived with another kid because his mom wouldn't care for him. I know about it from both the kid and his dad, who told me about the fight to get both of his son's away from the mom, and how the court was so biased. I fed this kid, I tucked him in when he slept over. I took him to visit the Boy in the hospital several times. I really love this kid. My heart is just broken, I feel so sad.



There is a fund set up for the families of the fallen firefighters. To donate:

West Roxbury Fire Fund

Boston Firefighters Credit Union
60 Hallet Street
Dorchester, MA 02124
617-288-2420

Any funds of any size will be much appreciated.

Please pray for our friend JP. Pray hard.

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