My phone is moments from being out of storage but I can't erase your text messages - not yet.
I am embarrassed in the warmest way by the number of facebook notifications I have. Additionally, I have smiled a hundred times at the pictures friends have found and posted of our girl. The words friends have written ... and I have cried. How I wish I could just have her.
Joey, our master of memory making, took Wade and I to Dallas on Sunday. We shopped and watched the Yankees defeat the Rangers and celebrated 24 years of wedded bliss on Monday, July 27th. I remember the day we said our vows, how anxious we were to just be married. We knew very little about- better and worse, sickness and health, or plenty and want. I am thankful we knew love for it has served us well this year.
Today, our administrators, teachers, and staff members at our Sixth and Seventh Grade Center hosted - "Moving Up"; it's an orientation for sixth graders. I walked into the gym and saw many of our district's elementary principals welcoming and hugging their "grown up" fifth graders who are days away from being sixth graders. I watched counselors skip onto the gym floor, excited to be introduced to their new students. I saw small bodies and big eyes. I saw teachers and high school students volunteering on a summer day to welcome future students to their new school. I saw love; then, I heard love. At the Sixth and Seventh Grade Center, when we need the students attention, we say "Union" and the students say "Redskins" and then they remain quiet for an announcement. As the principal was teaching our soon to be sixth graders this ritual she said the word "Union" and without being prompted several of these babies answered "Redskins!". What those words echo says more than just the eight letters of the word. When the students yelled that word they were yelling "I belong; I belong to this organization; I belong to these people; I have a place here, and I know I am important." That's love and the people with whom I work create that every day. Both of my babies have benefitted and absolutely love this school district.
On a good day, I am a sap. On an emotional day, I am a mess. As a mess, I stand in awe of the people with whom I work and how well they love.
What you have done and said and sent and prayed in the last few days have told me the very same things. You remember. You will say her name in the face of each sunflower, each sunset, each baseball game, each Sun-Drop commercial, each dance, each personality pic, each rock-n-roll song, each Sonic run, and each time you see the beauty that reminds you of Taylor. We belong to each other - in the moments that cause us to smile and in the moments when our hearts long for more innocent days. While that doesn't take our pain away, it does give us a call we need to consider answering.
I got a great email from Price, Taylor's friend who was in the front seat of her car the night they were hit head on by a drunk driver. While he conveyed many wonderful words describing his friendship with Taylor, I liked the way he signed his email especially - "Busylightingtheworld".
I am following his lead and the lead of my peers - it's time to get busy to - #golighttheworld.
Much love-
.