Peaceful and quiet day.. my folks Max showed up mid day.. we all hung out at the house until around 6. Then my mom, gabe, trevor, ian, matt, garret and I went to Talent. Hannah and Dave were hosting a free skate for Friends of Sam tonight. It was really nice. I love hanging out there.. there are so many Sam thing there.. ..
There was a good crowd of kids there tonight. Luke the legend even showed up.. here he is showing my mom some of his war wounds.. He still has staples in his head from where he was hit. He took a short ride on a skate board.. but .. you can tell he’s still sore..
Kids hadfree run of the new improved park tonight.. some kids skated or rodxe.. others jus tllooked on.. good music..good fun.
Gabe is just learnign to ride the bowl and you could see him getting better with each run. By the end of the night he was killign it.
My favorite thing to night was watching matt on his skates. He’d been off them for 2 years.. but he still managed to land a cork 5 off a ramp. it was amazing !
Afterwards a bunch of folks ended up at our hosue for a late dinner. Jen and diane had cooked a unch and my folks had brought a large ham. there was enough good food for an army !
I managed to fall aseep on the couch in mid-party.. this was my third nap for the day.. I think I may e taking it too easy.. Everyone chased me to bed..
OK.. enoguh for today.. tomorrows thanksgiving.. hope ot do the 10 K Jarred Williams run tomorrow morning .
Grrr.. computer just ate my blog.. I’ll retype what I can remember
Spent a delicious day working in my lab.. I’m just about done with a very complex tesla coil build.. should be ready to test tomorrow. I love working in the shop like that.. it just puts me in a zone.. it’s not mindless.. far from it actually.. it’s quite challenging.. but it pushes out any thoughts about work.. or sleeping or eating or saying hi to my family.. .. not all good things..
I will give it a rest for a while now.. We have family and friends coming in for the holiday and I want to spend time with all of them..
Unfortunately.. I dropped my camera.. so no new pictures.. these are from a few day ago.. it now has lots of wires in it..
These pics are from a few days ago, too. Gabe, trevor an I got out the forge that gabe made and forged a dagger…
Making things is so good for the soul so is sleep.. so off i go nite all.. nite sam -me
I woke today at peace and refreshed. Yesterday’s 4 year observation of Sam’s passing felt good.. lots of friends, lots of laughing.. some tears.. we were surrounded by love
Before I went to sleep I noticed there was an incredible ring around the full moon.. how cool is that ?!?!
Sam’s jahrzeit candle was still burning for a few hours this morning..It’s a candle you light on the day of a loved ones death.. it burns for at least 24 hours.. I watched it until it finally went out.. I always remember my mom lighting one for her dad.. I never thought I’d be lighting on for one of my sons..
Today marks the fourth anniversary of Sam’s organ donation. When we learned he was not going to survive.. it was a natural choice to do organ donation. we didn’t have to think even for a second. Sam’s donation allowed four people to stay alive.. including our new friend Bob..
We learned that the most important thing in organ donation is that your loved ones know your wishes. Some donations don’t occur because surviving loved ones don’t know what the potential donor would have wished.. You can honor Sam’s memory right now by signing the donor card on your drivers license.. and by having a short conversation with your loved one about your wishes.
Sam.. you left us four years ago today. We remember the brightness of your smile and the strength of your hugs and it lets us go on.
Today we are surrounded by the love each other, our families and our community. We felt you near all day.. I hope you know the depth of love folks still have for you and for us..
We’ve had a candle burnign all day for you.. In my culture we call it a jahrzeit candle.. Jahrzeit means ‘year time’ ..
To say we remember your passing today hardly captures it… we remember your life and your passing every moment of every day. Today marks the journety for us around our sun.. .. or.. I guess.. around our son. .. This is the day that others most strongly remember our loss.. and that brings it’s own special pain and joy..
‘It’s the day we mark your passing .. though the exact day we recognize
hardly matters. Yesterday your soul left your body.. today we made the
legal pronouncement.. tomorrow.. you donated your organs and saved four
folks lives..
As is now our custom, we planned a day of observation with friends. We got some new Sam stickers to give out for this years boards and skis..
Around noon we met about 35 friends for a hike up Bolton mountain. Bolton has been special to all 3 kids.. We’ve climbed Bolton every year since Sam’s passing.. it’s a steep but short climb.. The weather was mild (in th 20’s).. and very little snow..
We got to the top and grouped up in the warming hut.
we had quite a crowd !
Gabe and I took the short kike up to the fire tower. Gabe, Max and I have climbe d the tower each of the past four years. Max couldn’t come up until Wed.. so this year it was just Gabe and me.
We crawled up the rickety ladder to the platform.
It was freezing.. but the wind was calm, .. it was clear too.. which is unusual.. beautiful views !
I screwed a pierced samstone to the railing..
Then gabe lit the smoke bombs we’d brought.. usually we bring fireworks.. but we didn’t want anything with a boom this year.
We came down and the ext group came up to pay homage to Sam..
We came back to the house.. then lounged around for a couple of hours until people started showing up.. Mason had just gotten some new ink he wanted to show us.
Pretty soon, the house was packed.. I think we peaked around 80 folks.. it was more like 60 most of the night..
The phone was ringing all day and night with folks calling to say they were thinking of us and of sam..
We even had a skype call with Kevin.. we put it on the speaker system so everyone could talk to him .
The other big news for the evening was the return of our dear friends the Townsends. They’ve been gone for nearly 2 years traveling the earth.. They flew in around 3:30 into Montreal.. than came straight here. So much of our early time after sam’s death was with them. It was wonderful and meaningful having them back tonight. it was/is So, so good to see all of them , !
Ian grew more than a foot !
mid party I noticed how many folks were in sams shirts.. it was wonderful to see..
The dogs mingled all night.. most of it they spent lying under the tale looking for handouts.
A couple of hours in we handed out red bull and held a toast to sam..
I include this picture because of the ‘ghost ball’ in it.. never sure what these are.. but they appear in my photos of these parties all the time.. very interesting.. what are they ?
After the dinner dishes were cleared, we all sat down and made samstones..
Some were a little more creative..
THe party was still going strong around 11.. ..
It has been an emotion filled fay.. lots of laughs and lots of tears..
We all want to thank eveyrone for sending us hteir thoguhts and prayers.. you are helping us move on in the world.. and we really appreciate it..
