Freddy, My Real Friend -- When Kids and Babies Reunite Later in Life

Is like it was yesterday. Freddy showed up into our lives for a purpose...



JULY 20, 1969...

I'm watching TV with my younger brother and we hear this Neil Armstrong phrasing up his famous words: "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind." We were on our summer break from grammar school. and people all around us talked about Vietnam and that concert at Woodstock NY; or those Star trek reruns and the World of Disney.

The next day, a new family moved into our neighborhood. They brought with them their only son, who was nine years old. My brother was almost five and I was already six going into seven. His name was Freddy, and he almost instantly, at that very first day approached us candidly.

I was playing baseball with other 2 kids my age, but Freddy had a little problem: he barely could walk. He had what we could call a bout of polio. He had to walk carefully by holding his arms and hands against the walls. Remember it was 1969.

He had developed a certain stage of Polio and, we kids our age back then, didn't even know what this 'polio' thing meant for us....and of course for him.

Nine Months Later...

Freddy caught up with us with amazing improvement. He was able to walk next to us and carry an average conversation with his own inquisitive and persuasive talk... his own way of seeing life. "I want to, huh... thank you, Joey...!, for helping me with my whoa king!"

See? How was...? How a kid my age took those words? Later on was ike a blessing for life. Freddy would get emotional when he felt in love with the typical girl next door. Women were supposed to grow faster than us, and as normal as any girl at fifteen, she fell for an dude in uniform. Yea! what about us young kids who had a crush on them? It's not fair, and not funny! Telling ya!

That Kite Went Up...AND AWAY

Freddy's older brother knew how to build humongous kites and taught us the ropes. Some of them were pretty similar to a future Space shuttle. Talking about 1970's guys!.

One morning we decided to fly our biggest kite: A plane like structural design. Freddy wanted to give it a try and run, and run, holding the kite's string in order to make it fly. But, life can disguise an unexpected surprise.

To make the story short, Freddy didn't see or didn't expect to step into a rock and then stumbled and fell. That was only the beginning. Freddy's knees fell on a Sharp edged piece of brick and that was it. His scream was like, 'Huh!' When a man gets shot at close range and survives the traumatic pain .

My words to him were: "now Fred... be strong my friend. Tell your darn knee to stop the pain, and we will call your Parents, okay?"

His face was telling us how painful it was, but he took a deep breath. "It hurts, I can't help ... can't help the pain! Ugh!!" My little brother was really panicking and nervous and almost about to walk away; but he stuck with us. Instinctively, I took one of my socks and wrapped it up around his wound.

I kept on telling him that his pain had to 'go and leave us alone!' Minutes later his Dad came. (Oh, dad!) over and took him to the nearest Emergency room. He was not certainly happy about this incident, but Freddy explained the situation to him.... Fast forward, please!

NOVEMBER 2006

Freddy was older and was found again through the magic of this Social Networking frenzy. He became a Carpenter to a Wealthy family, and was able to have a decent living. He introduced us to a step son, that unfortunately was left behind by an ex girlfriend.

"He is like a son for me," he said. "And a father is the one who really raises a kid with the best that he can offer in hope that the child will be raised in good faith. Just Like us, Joe"

Those words took me back to our days as happy kids who would fly our dreams away in every single experience as children. We said: "one, two, three..." and we ran as fast as we could, around the place he was taking care of. That was Freddy, my friend... until the end.

Hold!... Hold it!

Freddy is dating again, and we feel happy for him. We really do. God Bless our friends, and ourselves for having these experiences that changed our lives!!