I am crediting the freakish meteorological conditions to the Irish spirit of Shannon O'Hara. We smashed the record high for St. Patrick's day in Rochester by 15 degrees - it was 81 Saturday. Sunday was also warm and windy so I honored Shannon's spirit by playing 36 holes.
As Erin noted, we had an extremely social weekend with visits from friends and family - fun in the sun with lots of activity. Lots of golf. Lots of grilling. Lots of laughs. I would have to say, our best weekend as a family of three.
We received extra attention because of the Irish holiday - people recognizing that this might be another tough "first". They were right.
But here was the part that kind of got to me; there was so much good sports action on TV and she would've been sidled up next to us enjoying NCAA hoops, WCHA Final 5, PGA Tour...whatever was on Shannon would've loved. (Jen and I chuckled Friday - Shannon would've have been really mad at Gopher hockey. North Dakota was not her favorite college hockey team.). I miss her so much.
So even when we are feeling good about our progress there is a tinge of guilt about feeling that way. And how can we keep writing about Shannon when Erin is alive and well right here in the flesh?
For me, there is a fine line between honoring Shannon's spirit and moving on. Here's what I come back to every time I find myself feeling good about something - Shannon would want us to to move on. She would wants us to have fun and laugh and make this life all about Erin. She would want us to play golf and go on vacation and enjoy life just as we did with her.
So that's what I feel today. This has been a really good day - I'm feeling good about that.
