Another Year.....

Another school year ending and another $10,000 in scholarships awarded at Naaman Forest High School to two very deserving students.

If I am being totally honest...I hate this.

I do not dislike the fact that we are blessed by the funds raised so we can support college bound students.  That is a gift.  

 What I am so uncomfortable with is standing on a stage and awarding this money each year.  I don't care if this is the 11th presentation.  It does not get any easier.  The emotion of being in that auditorium and remembering my son takes over my mind every year.  I can easily get through every day with happy thoughts and memories but this event drains me continually.

It is a flood of memories that come back the minute I walk through the doors of the building.  Yes, they were great memories....and that is what is so hard.  

Matt loved "the Forest".  He spent some of his best days in those halls.  

The faculty and teachers were family.  That is what it was like back then.

They all nurtured the rest of my children that followed Matt.  

Now we are giving back and who cannot be so proud of that.

I am proud but I cannot help but remember what was.

 This weekend I take those same memories to "Carry the Load".  

What an emotional time of the year this is.  

I love spending Memorial Day with those that understand.  

It is an honor to walk with so many that know that the day is about more than sales.

I look at this, which is truly such a perfect picture of my happy son, and know that he would be so proud, he is so proud.

I am so lucky. 

 Everyone continues to embrace Matt's memory.  

That in itself is such a gift. 

I just cannot seem to remove the emotion from it all.