Our first dose of winter has arrived, just in time for our St. Jude Give thanks. Walk. tomorrow, outdoors, in the concourse of Target Field. But, we support the cause come hell or high water... or windchill...
That will be just the beginning of a busy weekend for us: the walk in Minneapolis, hustle home for a Shannon O'Hara Foundation day at the HS Girls Hockey games, and then finish off the weekend with book sales at St. John's before and after masses on Sunday.
All good stuff, all worthwhile endeavors, all to support our mission.
I am going to admit to some trepidation about going and watching the HS games tomorrow. This is the first year where kids that were Shannon's peers are an integral part of those high school rosters. We've been reading the tweets and looking at box scores and there are Shannon's line mates from her years on the Rebels.
Now, understand that this makes us happy. We love those girls. They each hold a special place in our hearts, and we've got so many happy memories that include them. We can still picture Shannon skating down the ice, celebrating each goal and each victory with those girls.
But, those Rebels teammates are going where Shannon never got to. So it makes us sad, too. Shannon wanted to play high school hockey. That was on her bucket list.
Now, we are left to root for others. And we will. We know that they carry a little piece of Shannon with them every time they hit the ice. We even heard that Shannon's name was written on a hand, under a glove, when one girl scored her first varsity goal.
So, feeling happy and sad, moving forward and looking backward...
