Michael was born on February 28, 1989. I had taken pictures of both Ali and Heather when they were born. So as usual I drove home to get my camera, just as I was getting to the delivery area Michael emerged. The first thing that came to my mind was - the Circumcision - just then my head got a little light and I needed to sit down. After a few minutes I saw our new addittion to the Greene Family, we were all very proud. In addition to being one of the happiest times of our lives it was also one of the woosiest for me.
Upper Straits Lakefront
That evening I had a previous obligation and had to leave Ali and Heather with a babysitter. Ali was not feeling well and apparently did not get sufficient fluids, so the next morning as I was feeding Heather and Ali breakfast, Ali passed out with her face in the bowl of cereal. The ambulance came and after a little negotiating I had them take us to Beaumont although Huron Valley was closer, I thought it important that Ali be in the same hospital Elaine was. As it turned out Ali was fine but was just dehydrated and given the circumstances Elaine decided she would leave the hospital with both Ali and Michael so within 24 hours of being born Michael was at home in the safe suroundings which Elaine created.
At that point in time we were fortunate that Elaine did not need to work and was able to be a full time mom for all three of our children. Those early years were very special. There was always some activity going on at the Upper Straits Lake -Greene house. Weekends friends would come over and enjoy all the toys at the lake. Elaine played Lifeguard, Activity Director, and Guardian over all the children. Coming home was like being on vacation.
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In the summer of 1993 the Greene family moved to Coral Springs Florida. We had a wonderfull 2,400 SF home on 1/2 acre of land with a screended in pool surrounded by a banana tree, a grapefruit tree, a mango tree and an orange tree. We loved to pick the fruit off of the tree's. One thing was really funny - every season when the mango's were ready to harvest - they would mysteriously disappear.
Michael learned how to swim in our backyard pool. Elaine had a private instructor come and as I hear it after the first day Michael was able to get to the side from any place in the pool. By the end of the week he was able to swim from one side of the pool to the other and this at four years of age. Florida was a real change for us. The first year we bought annual passes at Disney and went 13 times in one year. We took our speedboat and would take day trips up the intercoastal or head out the Hillsboro Inlet or anchor at the beach and lounge around all day. We would go to Brad Kozin's who lived on the Intercoastal to watch the Winter Festival Boat Parade and on July 4th we would rent a hotel room on the beach and watch fireworks! Florida was a mystical time but not the best place to raise children.
So the decision to move back to Michigan was made and in June of 2000 the Greene family returned and took residence in West Bloomfield and in 2004 moved to our current home in Bloomfield Hills. Michael and Elaine found this home and fell in love. It had just what they both wanted. The pool for Michael and a ranch for Elaine. Michael loved having his buddies over to play Xbox360 or swim in the pool. Michael had assisted me in renovating the home. One day when Elaine was away on a business trip I woke Michael up and told him I thought there was a fireplace behind the living room wall. I gave him a small sledge hammer and told him to put a hole in the wall. At first he took a little poke at it but then I said come on take a swing at it. Upon which he took a merry old swing at it and opened up into a perfectly new fireplace that apparently had never been used.
On Tuesday June 19th 2007, Michael and I got up early to make sure he had everything. Elaine was in Washington D.C. for work, so at 7:30 AM I took Michael to the bus stop for the drive to Camp. The weather was complete overcast with a slight rain. This disappointed Michael as the Graduation was also rain and misrable. I hugged Michael for the last time as he left the car to join his fellow staffers to get on the bus. As I drove away I felt a sense of comfort knowing that he would be safe at camp.
On Wenesday at 1:38 PM Michael called my cell, but the number was not familiar so I let it go to voice mail. I immediatley listened to the voice mail, realizing it was Michael I called his cell but there was no answer and when I called the number he had called from it was a calling card number. Mike and I had a deal - he would not use his cell phone from camp because of the roaming charges. In 2006 Mike had used his cell and ran up a hugh bill.
June 20th, I got a call on my cell from the owner of the camp, at first I did not think anything of it. He started by telling me there was an incident, that Michael had submerged and was retrieved. CPR was performed and Michael needed 4 shocks of a defribulator to get his heart going again. I came to find out that Michael had never regained consciousness.
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