Three Months

Today is the 30th, which means it has been 3 months since Dad died.

You guys, I don't even know what to say about it besides it is so hard.

Our support system is amazing but it is so hard.

We have no regrets or guilt or family issues but it is so hard.

Good things happen every day but it is so hard.

Every day there are sunrays but it is so hard.

Awhile ago I put out a request for people to send me pictures of sunrays and the sky that they find. I got pictures from around here, as well as Wisconsin, NYC, and even Hawaii. So I thought I'd share them today (along with some quotes that spoke to me), as a reminder that things are hard, but people are thinking about us and praying for us every day.

"One cannot run from a challenge without losing.  To flee is signing a death warrant to dignity and character, and, having run, there is no return; one is a weakling forever.  Meeting a challenge, though one may be defeated, gives strength, character, and a certain assurance that regardless of outcome, one will survive or go down fighting."
-Sigurd Olson

"He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade."
-Samuel Johnson

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.  I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."
-Louisa May Alcott

"While we are born with curiousity and wonder and our early years full of the adventure they bring, I know such inherent joys are often lost.  I also know that, being deep within us, their latent glow can be fanned to flame again by awareness and an open mind."
-Sigurd Olson

 

"If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm."
-Frank Lane

"Life is a series of open horizons, with one no sooner completed than another looms ahead.  Some are traversed swiftly, while others extend so far into the future one cannot predict their end.  Penetrations into the unknown, all give meaning to what has gone before, and courage for what is to come.  More than physical features, they are horizons of mind and spirit, and when one looks backward, we find they have blended into the whole panorama of our lives."
-Sigurd Olson

"Joys come from simple and natural things: mists over meadows, sunlight on leaves, the path of the moon over water."
-Sigurd Olson

"Music is sunshine.  Like sunshine, music is a powerful force that can instantly and almost chemically change your entire mood.  Music gives us new energy and a stronger sense of purpose."
-Michael Franti

 

"I do hope that our spring will be starting shortly and we will all be able to enjoy some sunshine again."
-Lesley Garrett

We all went out to dinner at my dad's country club tonight...the first time since he died.  I'll admit that my dread for the evening was significant, as was the mini panic attack I had in the car on the way there.  But we made it, and had a really lovely time.  And as we walked out, we got a nice view of the city in the sunset.

 

 

It doesn't feel like "spring" yet, but we'll just keep hanging on to the sunshine that we can find.