Thursday, March 6, 2008

Because you asked...

Several of you have asked me recently how Eric and Laurie are. They are the parents of the children killed in a car accident a few weeks ago. While I do not have any updated info on them, they wrote a very touching letter to the community that was published in the Suburban News this past weekend. They basically thanked their friends and family and first responders for all they had done for them recently. They said "together, we will get through this dark time". I just sent an e-mail to Mary Ellen, my former neighbor, asking if they had returned to work yet, and how they were doing. I imagine that now, several weeks later, is just as hard, if not harder for them to deal with their loss. The attention has died down and they are now left to deal with their loss.

Many of you also asked about the calling hours we attended. We were so happy at the number of people who showed up to pay their respects. We got to the church at 6:00 pm, and waited 2 hours to see Laurie and Eric. there were literally hundreds of people there. The usher told some friends of ours who were seated just a few rows behind us, that there were over 300 people in line ahead of them, and to expect a long wait. The local fire department was directing traffic, and the church lot was filled completely, and people had to park across the street in a neighboring church's lot. There were tons of pictures and flowers. It was hard to see Tori's favorite Barbie doll sitting on a table beside a flower arrangement. Chris's baseball team mates had signed his jersey and wrote touching things to him. The pictures were so sweet. Birth until just a few weeks before their death. Their dad said, "look how many people my kids touched". He was genuinely in awe of their influence. When we approached Laurie, she was initially dry eyed. She hugged us both, then stepped back and rubbed my large, pregnant belly. Then, she grabbed me and just started sobbing, saying, "get that baby home, just get that baby home!" It was heart wrenching. On the way to my sisters house to pick up our children after the calling hours, I said to Matt, "It really puts things into perspective, doesn't it? We really dwell on such little, insignificant things so much of the time, and it makes you see just how truly blessed you really are." He agreed, and we drove to our kids with tears in our eyes.

Last week we were able to spend several days with Matt's "God parents". These were the parents of his best pal (a girl) growing up, as well as his mom and dad's best friends. When Matt's dad became so sick with brain cancer, and required surgery, Matt and his 3 siblings went to live with this family and their 3 kids. They stayed for 2 months while his mom helped his dad recover in a neighboring city. Jim and Lisa are great people. They now live in Kentucky, and Jim recently retired. He and Lisa have become quite the travelers. While on their way to NY city this past weekend, they stayed in Churchville to visit with us for several days. We really had a good time and caught up with each others lives. I learned a lot about Matt's family, specifically his dad. I never had the pleasure of knowing him, as he passed away when Matt was only 10 years old. It was great to hear, from his best friend, what kind of guy he was like. I wasn't too surprised to hear that Matt is so much like him. Nobody has ever really had anything negative to say about Matt's dad. We will often get stopped in his hometown by strangers, asking if Matt is "Rick Atkinson's boy". When they hear that he is, we are treated to a great story about how kind or helpful Matt's dad was, and what a great influence he was. Its so great to hear that.

Sunday night I was reminded once again of how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends. The girls from my "mom's group", and Hannah and her sister, Abby, who just happened to be in town from NY city, and I all went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. They threw me a little shower. I was given a generous gift card for baby things, plus lots of little things for me. Lotion, adorable slipper socks, etc. They even paid for my dinner. Aren't I blessed?

Tuesday we took our kids to Great Wolf Lodge once again for their birthdays. We had a blast, as usual. Noah was a bit older now and really loves the water slides now. Even Rylee was much more adventurous. While I was not able to join them on the water slides, and had to enjoy the hot tub with just my legs soaking in it, I still had so much fun. When both your kids are grinning from ear to ear, how can you not enjoy yourself? Tuesday was Brock's birthday, and he, Madyson, and my sister and brother in law all went to Great Wolf as well. All three times we have gone, we have coordinated to be there the same time as them, and the kids enjoy having cousins to hang out with. Brock and Noah would zip down the water slides, and if Noah was not fast enough getting back out of the pool to go to another water slide, Brock would grab his hand and say, "C'mon Noah!!" It was so cute.

Tonight, Matt and I are off to a belated "Christmas Party" at Mario's with his boss and fellow employee's. At Christmas time, his boss's family all got sick. They postponed the dinner so we would be able to attend (we were in Indiana for a week and a half), which was very nice of them to do. I'm looking forward to the dinner. Mario's is always great.

I'll try not to let so much time pass in between posts...

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