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June 29th, 2009:

Getting through the difficult times

A family member who experienced his own challenges in life offered some very helpful advice soon after the accident and I continue to refer back to it on a daily basis.

Whenever times get tough and seem impossible, I try to think of something funny, something happy, something about our life that will help me get through whatever I’m dealing with at a particular moment in time.

I turned around during the services at Queen of Martyrs and just about the entire church was filled.  I thought to myself for a brief moment, somewhat jokingly, that a few of these people might be here because they know how much grief Cari would have given them if they didn’t show up.  Now I know that’s not the case but she always let people know when they left early or didn’t show up, that she wasn’t particularly happy with them.  Looking back, she just loved having people around her and never wanted the day or whatever it was to end.

There are so many hundreds of little things that I continue to remember.  Each day seems to be just has difficult as the one before but I really hope and know that she’ll always be in my thoughts.

A day on the lake

She would have LOVED it.  She talked about it all the times weeks before everything changed.  She was so excited about the prospect of going out on Lake Michigan throughout the entire summer. 

P6200935A week or so ago we took the kiddies with us on the boat for a couple hours.   Ellie was so excited about being out there although when titi jumped in she got pretty sad and wanted her back in the boat.  We bought life jackets for both the kiddies too.  Carson looks like a little turtle in his, but he’s still super cute.

This past weekend Mike took us out for the day.  We had a number of friends with us too and everyone had a fantastic time.  Too bad we don’t have a boat 10x the size so we can bring everyone out at the same time.  We took a ride down the calumet river to the riverdale marina.  And what a beautiful day.  I constantly thought about her.  How she would and should have been there right with me, right next to me, right with us hanging out, enjoying the day, laughing, tanning, joking … about MJ, Hauntie getting a little crazy, Erik passing out sitting up at the front of the boat, everyone jumping in the water near the marina, getting the boat stuck in the muck for a few seconds, spinning around in the locks because of the current, or the questionable service at the marina.

She really would have just absolutely loved being out there.  We will love it for her.