"Why do we value them so much? They're just boys." -Me, Spring 2000.

I suspect that I made that statement in a moment of sheer bravery. Perhaps I knew, even as I spoke it, that it wasn't really true - that is, I may have recognized that even though John Henry and Nathan Thomas were "just boys" to the rest of the world they were, in fact, the whole world to me and Jamie (or so it seemed). Admittedly, we were young, naive and stupid...shit, we still are.

All I'm getting at, I guess, is that it'll be really, really nice when - some day in the distant future - we can say "they're just boys" and mean it, whether in reference to John Henry and Nathan Thomas or to any other boys. It'll be quite the triumph. I'm looking forward to it.