When Noah met me at the shop after school, I could see his chin dragging on the ground and I knew he was suffering a letdown from Brian  departure. I was experiencing my own withdrawal symptoms, but not so anyone would notice, I hoped. For Noah's sake, I tried to act chipper and upbeat, but wasn't able to lift my son' s spirits very much. Noah's conversation kept wandering back to Brian all afternoon and right through dinner while I struggled to change the topic. Noah lamnented that until he had a computer he couldn't keep in touch with Brian  by e-mail and would have to resort to plain old...