Gladness and Gratitude
It’s been the most beautiful Autumn. Towering trees display glowing palettes of red and orange throughout our neighborhood with firey leaves clutching branches far longer than is typical. Only recently have Hope and I begun needing jackets, as the sun has reliably warmed us since April. Even Manny notices the prolonged warmth, lingering in the shade of the leafy trees and rolling stroller. How glad and grateful I am, this November, to be pushing my happy Hope in this stroller. I absolutely delight in her presence.
These warm thoughts and surroundings make it a bit hard to believe that December encroaches. But sure enough, the calendar- and Christmas décor in every store- reminds me that right around the corner is our month of memories, where it’s not just the winter frost sinking into our bones that makes us feel cold but the frigidity of grief, desolation, despair, and deeper sadness and longing than we’ve ever known.
The calendar reminds me not only of lingering, permanent losses, but also the simultaneous holiday season: a holiday season that commences with the day to give thanks.
I give thanks for walks. I’m glad and grateful for these daily walks with my darling Hope where the beauty of a warm fall surrounds us, and my daughter’s cooing fills my ears and heart. I can’t remember more consistently lovely weather.
I give thanks for another walk: the momentous, beautiful walk our family had at the end of August. I’m glad and grateful for everything about that day.
On August 30th, 2015, nearly 200 friends and family gathered for Eva's 2nd Annual Life-Giving Memorial Walk amidst a lovely, grand combination of nature— expansive water, vibrant grass, peaceful breeze pushing colorful wild flowers— and city— wide paved path, scenic skylines, towering bridge connecting two states. In red shirts with “Eva” prominently formed across the front, we walked. The river of red Eva’s friends and family made as we walked along this pretty path is engrained in my mind; it stretched far ahead and far behind us, embracing us, as Pat, Hope and I mingled and meandered.
A friend told me that as the red river walked, she and her family were stopped by a passerby.
“What are you walking for?” he asked.
“We’re walking for the Meningitis Foundation in memory of a baby girl,” she told him.
He then asked where he could donate.
I am grateful for the awareness we bring as we walk for our baby girl, our Eva.
Eva’s friends and family generously donated $6,600 to Eva’s Life-Giving Memorial fund, $5,100 of which went directly to the Meningitis Foundation of America (to read more about the Meningitis Foundation of America, please click here; Eva’s story is here).
I am truly grateful that numerous people continue to remember and honor the life of our Eva Kay by donating to such an important cause.
The gratitude in my heart for the hundreds of friends and family who have championed our cause with us for not just one, but two years now is immeasurable and impossible to describe. This gratitude, though, is not wholly unfamiliar. Indeed, gratitude has been constant; I’m certainly blessed beyond measure in this life with Eva. I feel ineffably grateful to be the mother of such an incredible angel who continues to touch the lives of countless people through her life-giving legacy. And I’ve been grateful for the people surrounding us since our journey with Eva began.
A little less familiar, following the dark, long stretch of despair after Eva returned to Heaven, is my gladness. I feel glad for the restored joy and full heart Hope has brought; for the constant, supportive presence of Eva’s loved ones; for the $17,000 we have raised in two years in memory of our amazing angel; for the ways these life-giving funds will help others. I smile again, and as this beautiful Autumn shifts to winter and the calendar page turns, I know I have love in my future: from two daughters, one husband, and countless people who support us in this grand walk of life with Eva.
We look forward with gladness and gratitude to year three.
It’s been the most beautiful Autumn. Towering trees display glowing palettes of red and orange throughout our neighborhood with firey leaves clutching branches far longer than is typical. Only recently have Hope and I begun needing jackets, as the sun has reliably warmed us since April. Even Manny notices the prolonged warmth, lingering in the shade of the leafy trees and rolling stroller. How glad and grateful I am, this November, to be pushing my happy Hope in this stroller. I absolutely delight in her presence.
These warm thoughts and surroundings make it a bit hard to believe that December encroaches. But sure enough, the calendar- and Christmas décor in every store- reminds me that right around the corner is our month of memories, where it’s not just the winter frost sinking into our bones that makes us feel cold but the frigidity of grief, desolation, despair, and deeper sadness and longing than we’ve ever known.
The calendar reminds me not only of lingering, permanent losses, but also the simultaneous holiday season: a holiday season that commences with the day to give thanks.
I give thanks for walks. I’m glad and grateful for these daily walks with my darling Hope where the beauty of a warm fall surrounds us, and my daughter’s cooing fills my ears and heart. I can’t remember more consistently lovely weather.
I give thanks for another walk: the momentous, beautiful walk our family had at the end of August. I’m glad and grateful for everything about that day.
On August 30th, 2015, nearly 200 friends and family gathered for Eva's 2nd Annual Life-Giving Memorial Walk amidst a lovely, grand combination of nature— expansive water, vibrant grass, peaceful breeze pushing colorful wild flowers— and city— wide paved path, scenic skylines, towering bridge connecting two states. In red shirts with “Eva” prominently formed across the front, we walked. The river of red Eva’s friends and family made as we walked along this pretty path is engrained in my mind; it stretched far ahead and far behind us, embracing us, as Pat, Hope and I mingled and meandered.
A friend told me that as the red river walked, she and her family were stopped by a passerby.
“What are you walking for?” he asked.
“We’re walking for the Meningitis Foundation in memory of a baby girl,” she told him.
He then asked where he could donate.
I am grateful for the awareness we bring as we walk for our baby girl, our Eva.
Eva’s friends and family generously donated $6,600 to Eva’s Life-Giving Memorial fund, $5,100 of which went directly to the Meningitis Foundation of America (to read more about the Meningitis Foundation of America, please click here; Eva’s story is here).
I am truly grateful that numerous people continue to remember and honor the life of our Eva Kay by donating to such an important cause.
The gratitude in my heart for the hundreds of friends and family who have championed our cause with us for not just one, but two years now is immeasurable and impossible to describe. This gratitude, though, is not wholly unfamiliar. Indeed, gratitude has been constant; I’m certainly blessed beyond measure in this life with Eva. I feel ineffably grateful to be the mother of such an incredible angel who continues to touch the lives of countless people through her life-giving legacy. And I’ve been grateful for the people surrounding us since our journey with Eva began.
A little less familiar, following the dark, long stretch of despair after Eva returned to Heaven, is my gladness. I feel glad for the restored joy and full heart Hope has brought; for the constant, supportive presence of Eva’s loved ones; for the $17,000 we have raised in two years in memory of our amazing angel; for the ways these life-giving funds will help others. I smile again, and as this beautiful Autumn shifts to winter and the calendar page turns, I know I have love in my future: from two daughters, one husband, and countless people who support us in this grand walk of life with Eva.
We look forward with gladness and gratitude to year three.