SAVE THE DATE FLM
Hi!
I sat down to write this letter to y’all many times in the last week.
The main purpose being, to get you excited about the Winship 5k,
and our third Field Day!
Better Late than Never!
The Winship 5k is taking place Saturday, October 1st this year.
We will join Dr. Arellano’s team ( Leukidators) again this year!
The link below is where you can sign up under her team.
There is a place where you can honor Mike when you sign up!
We are excited for it to be in person again this year.
I hope you will sign up and join us to walk.
https://secure2.convio.net/emory/site/TR/5KRun/Winship5k/2109702706?pg=team&fr_id=1300&team_id=3662
I also hope you will save the date for our Share Love, That’s All, Field Day.
SATURDAY, October 29TH.
The event will be from 4 pm -8 pm and is a family-friendly event.
Like years prior, we will gather and enjoy authentic Louisiana jambalaya made by Mike’s dad and dear friend.
I think many of you come just for that :) Games for kids, music ,bounce houses, s’more,s and more…
We will send out more specifics and flyers you can share with your friends in the next month.
Email me or call me with any questions.
We also welcome any help or ideas :)
Thank you again for being on this road with us.
Many of you have carried us at times.
I am forever grateful.
Below is a little bit of grief shared. No pressure to read.
But all the pressure to come to The Field day and 5K :)
Keep Swimming,
and Fighting Like Mike.
Surrendering.
All the rest to God.
Lindsey
To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
Mary Oliver
Dear Fight Like Mike Army,
I hope you all had a wonderful summer.
I am thankful for our really fun summer.
It flew by.
I realize it has been a while since I posted on the blog.
It is always my goal to post more blogs consistently.
But kind of like my goal every year to start going to Yoga,
the blog has suffered the same lack of attention and motivation.
Here’s to a new year, more goals, and maybe more consistency.
I thought I might start by sharing some of the letters I wrote to Mike this summer.
We will see.
I continue to write to Mike almost daily.
Journaling continues to be the most healing avenue for me,
as well as my closest connection to Mike.
I miss him,
every day.
And with every day that passes,
I realize that fact will never change.
I love this picture of jars that someone posted about grief.
The grief doesn’t shrink, but we grow around it.
Writing brings more space to breathe
instead of feeling suffocated
and lost in memories with him 24/7.
This week I have felt more suffocated again.
A tightness in my chest, alongside tight-fit school schedules.
(and arguments about too tight short shorts with my 9 yr old …. oops did I say that…
teenage years are going to be fun🤨)
Summer brought air and space for grief ( and short shorts ).
And I felt it being sucked out of the jar, as the week started.
Our anniversary landed on the first day of school.
And although I was distracted and thankful for three kids’ first-day nerves.
My own gut felt sick like their first-day tummies.
I couldn’t stop thinking about our wedding day
and wanted to be transported back to the feeling of
that excited jittery stomach instead.
Nancy reminded me of how excited he was when he called her the night he proposed,
and that memory made me smile.
But to add insult to injury on a tough day,
Celia told me that when they wrote about their families,
she wrote down that her daddy had died.
The air became heavier, the jar shrank a little more.
I was also proud of her.
She had worn her crescent moon earrings to school that morning.
She brings him with her everywhere she goes.
She talks about him 24/7.
She tells everyone about the foundation.
But at school, she doesn’t want to feel different for any reason.
Part of that is just childhood, trying to fit in.
So I was proud that she finally felt comfortable in her own skin,
to share her story.
It was a brave thing to do, I told her.
Yeah, yeah she said, waving me off nonchalantly.
My heart hurts for them more than anything.
But they continue to be my greatest teachers.
They keep getting up after each time they are knocked down.
I am learning that the beginning of a school year is just tough,
and in actuality, that is true for many kiddos and families.
Filling out paperwork, leaving the second parent blank.
All about me bags and family pictures to share.
Jake's class actually got points for each question answered on
an online syllabus.
Leaving him looking at me like, what the heck....
so I lose points for having one parent?
We sat on the couch and shed a few tears together,