Dear Jakey,
This truly has been and will continue to be quite a week. Yesterday was a donor luncheon at UAlbany. It was the awarding of the scholarship that used to be named after G-Pa but that we had changed to be named after you. I agreed to go with Daddy a while ago but it didn’t really hit me until we got there and saw our name tags that read the “Jake Alexander Straughter Memorial Scholarship”. That really made it hit home. And we sat with the Dean who was very nice and I was pretty quiet until he started asking about the foundation. And then Jakey, I had a lot to say. And just maybe we might be able to help his friend who’s daughter has a mitochondrial disorder. It is amazing the things that I know so much about that 5 years ago I didn’t even know existed. Anyways, we met the recipient and she was very nice and kind. And I think she felt good about receiving an award in your memory. And when the Dean spoke about you he talked about this being a celebration of your life. It seems a little like the cliche of the week – everything has been about celebrating your life. But cliche or not, it is true. It’s all we have now.
And last night was our last meeting of Wave Riders. Hard to believe it went by as quickly as it did. Ethan is sad it is over but I am glad that it helped him. And hopefully will continue to help him. Lily is at Lake Ave with him and I hope that that also gives him some comfort knowing that other kids in his world miss people and have suffered unimaginable loss to. And as much as I complained about wave riders I also got used to it too.
And Jakey, I miss you so much. Ethan and I were talking yesterday at the grave about how much we missed you. I told him that I used to snuggle with you every night and he said “but I got to snuggle him all to myself when you went for a run”. And for the most part that was true. He would usually end up in our bed too and as soon as I got up he would roll over and squeeze you tight. I can picture it. Last night we closed our eyes tight and pretended you were right there between us as we said good night. I hope you felt the love up in Heaven.
Love,
Mommy