I haven’t written much lately 🙁
9 months today. YUCK!
A benefit for the kids last night, completely organized by a local family, was a nice success. They brought recognition to us and raised funds for the kids. I was pleased by the turnout. I would have liked to see additional publicity, especially in La Grange, but I can’t complain. They created t-shirts with Cari’s name on it and fliers to promote the event. Everyone involved wore one of our wristbands. I don’t know if I gave them 100 or 200 but they used all but a handful. What an awesome show of support for our family and the significance of our loss.
I received a package yesterday but didn’t open it until this morning…
It brought some tears. A very thoughtful gift.
I decided to work on a small project recently. I wanted to do it around christmas time and then before valentines day but I just couldn’t find the time. I bought some wood letters from a craft store intending to spell out merry christmas mommy, displaying it along the street in the location she was taken from us. But christmas passed and unfortunately so did v-day but I realized that with those letters I could also spell out we miss mommy. So I tried to be a little crafty, painted the letters, attached them together with some other materials from the craft store and put it up on the tree yesterday afternoon. (I should probably get a picture). Unfortunately while I was putting it up I broke the WE. At least it broke then instead of some day down the road. So I removed the we and left ‘miss mommy’. It seems to still work. Maybe one day in the future I’ll change it up a bit. But for now the tree is affixed with bouquets of flowers, some pictures & notes, and now this message.
The village president of La Grange continues to put little emphasis on public safety. A recent board meeting reiterated not only her lack of interest in the issue but her unfortunate opinion that the citizens within the community are incapable and that the skill set of her staff far outperform anything a passionate citizen can do – http://everythinglagrange.typepad.com/the_daily/2010/02/residents-not-qualified-to-evaluate-village-policies-regarding-traffic-pedestrian-safety-asperger-sa.html
1 year ago today we had a 1-month old baby boy and were trying to figure out how to care for two little ones. Never would I have imagined being here today.
Yesterday someone else reached out to me. A childhood friend of Cari’s. A friendship that had gone in different directions because of high school & college. But a bond that had the potential of becoming something strong again, even after so many years apart. “She truly was one of my best friends. We lost touch for a while when she switched high-schools and we spoke occasionally throughout high-school and college. I deeply regret the time that we lost. But when we got back in contact with each other, it was like nothing had changed and time had not passed. I cannot tell you the joy I found in an old friend, the old Cari, as well as the joy I found in getting to know the new part of Cari (the role she had as a wife and Mom). We had both taken on these roles and it was great to share the experiences and our new lives with each other. The great part about it was that we just picked up where we left off as if the time had not passed! I was so truly excited, touched, and blessed to have her back in my life!”
Damn! It’s hard to read that. I hope she doesn’t mind me including that here. It’s just really touching and I didn’t want to lose track of it.
As for me … I’m trying to make it to the gym as often as possible and it’s been 7 full days since having a drink of pop … not a lent thing or anything just my decision that I need to give up one form of caffine. I really wanted to have a coke today.