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11-year-old Max Boddington sits with his father Simon in their back yard on Monday, Aug. 27 
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As the world mourns Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut to walk on the moon, an 11-year-old San Rafael boy has a special reason to miss him -- and a message from the astronaut he will always treasure.
"Sometimes when I look up at the moon, I wonder if my mom and dad are watching me," wrote Max Boddington, whose mother died in 2005 and his father in 2008. He ended his essay, written two years before Armstrong's death on Saturday: "My dream is to meet Neil Armstrong, the world's Number One space hero."
The boy's adoptive mother, Janet Boddington, kept the essay and submitted it to the 2012 Marin County Fair. After it won best of class in the junior creative writing/short essay category, Boddington tracked down
Armstrong online and sent him the essay. On Aug. 1 the astronaut, who commanded the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, emailed her back:"Thanks for sharing Max's essay with me," Armstrong wrote. "It is very poignant and surprisingly erudite for an 11-year-old. ... Tell Max I send him my very best wishes for good luck and success."