Couple quick updates;
Shannon O'Hara Scholarship Fund - Is processing at Fidelity Charitable. We will have details on account numbers, funding methods and tax implications coming up. We hope to make a presentation to the RYHA board later this month. The goal is to fund raise through 2012 and issue our first scholarships in Shannon's name in 2013.
7th Annual Spring Fundraiser Banquet Honoring Shannon O'Hara - This event to raise money for St. Jude's is March 31 at the Rochester International Event Center. Tickets are available from a bunch of folks around town - (know anyone in Zumbro Valley Bassmasters?) - Dick Dorman is my contact at (507) 867-4079. They are capping it at 450. Dick tells me they are close. So hurry up if you plan to attend. We are excited to share Shannon's story. It's a good one.
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We wrapped up the basketball season as Erin's team went 1-and-2 at the State Grade Level Tournament in Prior Lake. The Spartan 6th grade and 8th grade teams became a great source of strength and distraction for all three of us as we plowed through a winter that we will never forget.
Coach Olson's 8th graders - many of them Shannon's friends from Willow Creek Middle School - practiced with and after Smiley's 6th grade squad every week through the season. So many of them seem to have adopted Erin as their own little sister. Our teams shared a hotel and shared a party room potluck and shared a Bruegger's bagel session Sunday morning. It just felt right to be part of something - part of a family. Count Mayo Spartans girls basketball families among the "healers" for Team O'Hara. All we can say is thank you. We love you.
Getting better a day at a time. Before heading back to Rochester Sunday, Erin, Jen and I shopped at Ikea for stuff for Erin's room and laughed frequently. We are settling into a rhythm that is our family of three - plus Sunny. Two months without Shannon in our lives. We still look at each other some days and say; "did this really happen?" Yepper.
John Mayer's Dreaming with a Broken Heart is in my head as I head for bed...
When you're dreaming with a broken heart
the waking up is the hardest part
