Terrible Wonderful

This has been a terrible wonderful week. Please note, I did not say "terribly wonderful." Those are two different things. Terrible. On August 30, we had to mark the two-month mark of Mitchell's leaving us. On September 3, we marked the three-month mark of the day we went to the hospital. He has been gone two months. He hasn't talked to me in three months. Days 30 and 3. Terrible. We had to go to the funeral home this week to look at the proof for his marker to go in the cemetery. That was going to be bad enough. To add to that, when we looked at it, they had the name wrong. Instead of Mitchell's name, they had Mike's name. Apparently they had looked at the wrong line on the contract. So, I had to go back again once they fixed that. Not exactly reassuring, and I am sure it was even more surreal for Mike than it was for me. Wonderful. This week, our friends at Zanies Nashville hosted TWO fund-raising events for Mitchell. Wednesday night featured Reno Collier and three other comedians, who were all hysterically funny and made us all laugh -- and we all need to laugh. We were so blessed to have so many friends come to enjoy the comedy, and to laugh with us. The second night was an event called "Bumps, Bruises, and Bedtime Stories" and featured four former NHL players, all of whom played for the Nashville Predators, including Stu (the "Grim Reaper") Grimson, Jim McKenzie, JP ("Coach") Dumont, and Chris ("Mace") Mason. These four men generously donated their time to tell funny stories from their days in the NHL, and brought out a big crowd of our hockey family, friends, and hockey fans that don't know us at all. Laughter -- and a lot of it!

Wonderful. Both nights included both silent and live auction items, donated by generous folks in the community -- many personal friends of ours, but many others donated by people who just wanted to help. The generosity of so many, both the donors and the people who bid so generously, made me cry -- in a good way. Thank you to so many people! The Nashville Predators; Blue Chair Bay Rum; Tennessee Preservation Trust; the MHC Foundation; Compass Photography; Andrew Jackson's Hermitage; Echoes of Nashville; my generous friends who represent Pampered Chef, Young Living, Younique, Rodan & Fields, and so many more. As much fun as we have had the last couple of nights, it does make me sad to wonder if Mitchell knew how many people loved him, how many people love our family because of him. Teenage boys aren't known for sharing their feelings all that much, especially when they are talking about and to each other. But I can tell you, there isn't a group of boys that alternately loves and hates each other more than the Nashville hockey community. They may hate each other when they are playing against each other, but when the chips are down, those boys are all going to be there for each other. Terrible, and wonderful. I am guessing that describes the rest of our lives. Terrible, because we will always miss Mitchell. Wonderful, because we all had him in our lives. Terrible and Wonderful, because his loss has given us all of you.

#grief #friends #hockey