Another pilgrimage to a place you loved... a place that took you too far from home to make me happy but after visiting this beautiful place, it is easy to see why you loved it there. It is there that you developed your love for snowboarding, another reason to not like that state but it is too beautiful and impossible to not appreciate its uniqueness. You often used to say that if you could have m
Forum: Family

Tracing your footsteps is both comforting and painful all at the same time. Today, i went back to Chincateague/ Assateague and the memories all came rushing back. I remembered when I brought you there to start your internship and dropped you off on the beach with just your backpack. THere was no one there to meet you and you werent even sure where you were supposed to be.But you headed off down t
Forum: Family

Thank you for your note. Happy Easter I too can hardly believe how the time has gone by and you are getting ready to graduate college. How far you have come and i know Ms Kiernan would be so proud of you. Time does go by and your life is busy as it should be but it makes me smile to know that even so...you will remember Ms K and her passion for trying to make learning fun. She always found the jo
Forum: Students

Always, of course.. but let me give you a few examples. I am taking off my eye makeup and i remember you told me i should use eye make up remover so i wouldnt get wrinkles. You thought you already had too many "laugh lines".. thank god for those laugh lines as you didnt have many years left to add to those.. And I am transferring old video tapes over to DVDs. So here is one that says i
Forum: Family

I dont think shannon is at all surprised that you are now a mom and I am sure she was wishing she could have teased you in person about your big belly. we have to believe she is watching over us and you can be sure Meave is on her rather long list of people here on earth she has to keep an eye on. ( Being a ranger fan cant hurt either!@)
Forum: Home

I cant believe you are almost done.. and on to graduate school. I know that Ms Kiernan will always be remembered by you and I will never forget you either. Giving you that first scholarship in her name was an experience that i will always cherish. I know Shannon is looking over you and is so very proud of you... work hard but have fun, live life and be happy.
Forum: Students

So.. today is the official anniversary of the day you left us. And there is alot of snow on the ground but many of your friends and family have made a pilgrimage to places to remember. By the stories i have heard, more than one person got stuck in the cemetery today.. i saw footsteps in the snow from the road so some decided to just hike in from the road... jillian headed to the beach and hiked t
Forum: Family

We are in the midst of a snowstorm and it is the anniversary of the day of your accident. Four years ago today you started your day excited to be spending the day doing what you loved to do.. snowboarding. By all accounts, it was a beautiful sunny day and you were upbeat and happy.A storm had been predicted and your school teacher friends had warned you that perhaps it might not be a good idea to
Forum: Family

She would have had a good time at your house since she would have been with her good friend. I often wonder what she would be doing now... where she would be... who she would be with. I read her journal entry right before the new year on 12/30/05 her last entry and she said "I feel strong. I feel hopeful and i have much to accomplish".... She had so many plans and I can only hope that s
Forum: SUNY Geneseo

Another Christmas and I can only imagine the celebration you are having in Heaven with my Mom and Dad. I can hardly believe you have all left me behind...I built you a snowman and was able to decorate your tree. Every ornament is a story of you.. unique, as you are. Wrapped a few presents and filled the stockings.. Yours with a letter from my heart to yours.. I did make sure I got Chauncey someth
Forum: Family

Another Christmas is fast approaching....We had a huge storm that dumped over 2 feet of snow and I kept thinking how much you would have been enjoying the storm. We did decorate the tree in the house and I hung your special ornaments. I could hear you in my head as i hung each one. I fought back the tears and shared the moment as best i could with your siblings. Never the same without you and no
Forum: Family

Your siblings are all out tonight and i wondered if you would have been out too...maybe not because you would have been almost 32 and I dont know where you would have been in your life journey. Funny but I guess you will always be frozen in time at the age of 28 for me but i spend many hours wondering how your life would have changed. Thanksgiving and the first one for me without your Popa..and
Forum: Family

I am glad you like the picture.. she has a big smile on her face and I love to remember her laugh~ who could ever forget that wonderful laugh and how she sometimes would laugh so hard she would cry! I hope you will look us up when you come to new york. that would be wonderful and thank you for remembering our beautiful shannon> She will never be forgotten
Forum: Other

So maybe by not having a gravestone i could always pretend that you had a special garden that just happened to be at a cemetery.... and that perhaps you were not really gone. I dont know but i had not been able to pick out a gravestone. Many times i tried, but I just couldnt seem to do it. Dad finally encouraged me to think about it and we finally did pick one out. So, now I understand it is at y
Forum: Family

You loved this time of year.. the cooler weather, the beautiful colors of the leaves...and of course, Halloween. You loved that holiday so much. Today we did go pumpkin picking and your sisters still remembered the rules...Cant go to a field where they just have them laying out there..No, you have to go to a field where they are still on the vine AND they have to have stems.. And yes, Dad did hav
Forum: Family

Yup.. i dont know why the fox but it is definitely her way of sending us a signal.Thanks for sharing..
Forum: SUNY Geneseo

I imagine there is quite a party there in heaven tonight. I can see you jumping up and down, your arms spread wide over your head and waving to your Popa as he arrived there this morning dragging your grandma with you. Another adventure you will share with your Popa. I prayed to you last night that you would tell God it was time. I told Popa not too worry and that we would all be there soon toget
Forum: Family

The days are finally coming to a close on your popa's life. I believe it will any day now. i whispered in his ear tongight that you and grandma are waiting on the other side and that we will all be ok if he is ready to leave this world. My goal is to make his time here on earth as pain free as possible until you can lift him up
Forum: Family

Shannon also called me about the fox incident. She insisted it was her grandmother and I too kind of thought it was odd. Why would her grandmother come to her as a fox? But Shannon was so insistant that it was truly her grandmothers spirit that i believed it could be. Soooo.... in the summer of 2006, we were supposed to be dedicating her bench at the aboretum. The weather forecast was calling for
Forum: SUNY Geneseo

ANother year and my usual pilgrimage back to New Hampshire to present the scholarship at Winnacunnet High School... stop at the Galley Hatch and meet your friends from school and think how often you did that on a Friday after school and perhaps sat in the same booth. Walking in the front door of the school as you did every day...maybe i parked in the same parking spot. Silly little things but I l
Forum: Family

You could never be a failure. You bring such joy to everyone who knows you especially this family and it doesnt matter if you graduate or not. Shannon would understand maybe better than anyone so you just continue to talk to her. I know it is not the same but it is all we have. And know that I love you and will be here for you as long as I live. Trust me to help you through this. I love you, Jill
Forum: Family

Funny how she comes in to your head at the strangest times.. seems to be when i need to talk to her or want to celebrate something special. THose times it feels so unnatural to not be able to pick up the phone and call her. I still get that urge and do call her cell phone. Hope you are doing well and think of you often. I will be presenting Shannons scholarship again at Winnacunnet and will nev
Forum: Students

Another Easter without you.. one less basket and how strange it still seems to not have 4 children to make baskets for. I will never get used to that. Thomas and Jen colored eggs. It doesnt take as long as it used to when you were here with us. No one is quite that particular~ I looked at some old pictures tonight and made me smile. The easter egg hunts.. you would still want me to do that if you
Forum: Family

I know you were there as your baby sister danced her heart out to the beautiful song, The Promise. It was hard to keep back the tears that flowed as I watched her portray through her dance the pain of losing you. Wasnt she amazing? Can you believe how incredible she dances? You would be proud of her, Shannon... we all are. WE will never get used to not having you in that audience but we know you
Forum: Family

The sudden snow flurry made me think of Shannon too.. I can never look at snow or a sunset without thinking of her. Thank you so much for taking time to post and letting me know you are remembering her. She was one of a kind and will never be forgotten. Be well..
Forum: Students

Thank you Andy for posting and for sharing your memories of Shannon> I am constantly amazed by how many people she touched. Everywhere she went the comments are similar and I am so very proud of the person she was who treated people with respect and had a love of life and of nature. MY life has been forever changed and I miss her every minute. I hope to get out to Colorado this summer and will
Forum: Other

THink of love as well as loss. I often think of the quote : it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all" it is what sustains us and the love that shannon gave is still here..Harder to feel than the big bear hug she would envelope me in, but it is here. I know that if God could have given me a choice of having her for just a few seconds in my life, i would have gladly
Forum: SUNY Geneseo

Finding the words for all the world is not easy, my son. I am so very proud of you. You have so many of her qualities and yet are uniquely yourself which is what makes you YOU. Shannon adored you.. i think you know that. One pix in her wallet and it was yours. Hold that in your heart and know she is with you.
Forum: Family

Hard to believe it has been 3 long years since you have been here and as usual, I struggled with how to pass the time today. It is not just a day but a week of memories that flood my mind. The end is always the same though.. you are gone and you are not coming back and I cannot do anything to change that. So i did my usual pilgrimage to the arboretum, your grave, the bench at the shrine.. wrote i
Forum: Family

Today is a day I remember vividly from 3 years ago.. maybe not so much what i acutally did that day, although probably could retrace the events of that relatively normal day. But it is more that i remember how I felt. How positive and upbeat i felt.. thinking that no one had it better than I did and how very blessed i was. I had just come home from a conference in California which i had throughly
Forum: Family