Hannah’s Journey

It has been a long time since I have posted. We have been very busy this spring. Our oldest son, Nathan, grauduated from NYU on May 13th. His graduation was held at the new Yankee stadium. I told the kids to enjoy the day, because I’m pretty sure we can’t afford to go there for a game! This was their chance to see the stadium. Not that we go to ball games often. On May 30th, Nathan left for Africa for a year. He is working for a non-profit agency called Miracle Corners, who build community centers in small towns, and offer many opportunies to the people who live in these towns. He started out in Rwanda for a week, and is currently in Tanzania. He will end up in Zambia in July and stay there for the remainder of the year. He is enjoying this opportunity immensly and spends much of his time trying to convince me to come see him at Christmas. I’m not sure I can do without running water and warm showers. I would have made a terrible pioneer.

Colin has been home since the first of May. His new hobby is singing to me. I think he should switch hobbies. If you heard his voice, you probably would agree with me. When he is not serenading me, he is working at the movie theater for the summer. He goes back to Syracuse at the end of August.

Austin just finished with school today, and is off to Tennessee for a few days with friends. Next year he will be the big man on campus, as an eigth grader. His fundraising is going very well, and he has almost reached his goal. He will have a booth at the Great American Weekend in Goshen, July 4th, and will be selling his Hannah pins and Journey of Hope bracelets. Once he reaches his goal, he plans to continue on raising money for childhood cancer research.

In June, we walked at our annual Relay for Life. Our team, the Challengers, raised close to $5000.00 dollars. Hannah would be so proud. We had a team of around 50 kids this year. I lasted until about 4 a.m. before I headed to the car and slept for an hour and a half. Bill and Colin headed home and slept in nice comfortable beds. I’m pretty sure that Bill and I will change places next year. Austin stayed up all night. It is an exhusting night, but well worth the effort. The luminary ceremony honoring cancer survirors and in memory of those who lost the battle is always very moving.

For Father’s Day, Bill and I headed over to visit Hannah and planted flowers around her headstone. The bulbs that Bill planted last fall came up and were very beautiful, but of course only last so long. It is such a little thing to do for her, but is comforting. At least we feel we can still do something physically for her. I thought that once we got past the anniversery of her passing, it would be so much easier, but I think that the first year we were truly numb. Things seem to hit a little harder now, but we are doing well all things considered. She is still such a presence in our lives and will be forever.