Missing Noe

So today is always a depressing summer day for me.  Since the summer of 2006, we have hosted a little boy from NYC in our home 2 weeks through the Fresh Air Fund.  His name is Noe Dominguez and he has come to be like a part of our family.  He is a well-behaved, mannerly and mature young man, now.  Being from Brooklyn, just walking outside barefoot to get the mail for me, is a rare treat for him.  As we was doing this yesterday, he said to me, "After today I won't be able to go out barefoot anymore."  I guess NYC really is a concrete jungle.  Sometimes he would wake before me or my boys and I would find him just sitting outside on the deck "listening" to the silence, or taking in the birds and the beautiful sounds of morning.  I don't know what life for him is like.  I wish I could trade with him for 2 weeks, to better understand his perspective of our life here, in small town, Salem.  I do realize I have lots to be grateful for.  I don't have to worry about my kids growing up hearing gun shots outside our apartment or hearing of drug busts.  I don't know...my heart and mind is heavy today, as it is every July something when I rise early to see Noe off to the bus, heading back to Brooklyn.