3/3/08 - I (Leslie) went out of
town over the weekend for a girls' weekend. My friend, Heather
(Harrison's mom), and I traveled to Bowling Green, Kentucky to meet up
with two other friends from Alabama, Marki and Marilyn. All four of us
have experienced the death of a child, and we gathered together in a
rustic log cabin to share our stories and share our hearts. Although it
might sound like a sad experience, it wasn't. Of course, we all talked
about our children and experiences, but we also laughed and enjoyed
each other's company! It was good.
3/9/08
- As we all prepare for this season of "March Madness", we share a
quote by the legendary coach John Wooden. "Things work out best for
people who make the best of the way things work out." When it came to
Sammy's life, we often said that we were preparing ourselves for the
worst but hoping for the best. We could quote the medical statistics of
HPE backward and forward, so we were never in denial about the severity
of the situation. We're sure that other people probably felt sorry for
us, but we never felt sorry for ourselves. We made the best of it, and
in return, we had the best time!
3/18/08 - Steve and I were watching American Idol tonight, and the show always makes us think of Sammy.Sammy was born in 2003 during the second season of American Idol.He
spent nearly four months in the neonatal ICU where there were no TVs;
however, he eventually transferred to the pediatric ICU where he had a
private room and his own TV.When we turned on the TV for that first time, American Idol was on.
We began playing music for Sammy while he was in the NICU, and it was obvious that he loved music very much.Each
year, we would watch American Idol with him, and he would communicate
his appreciation or dislike of a performer in his own unique way.If he disliked the performance, he had seizures.If he enjoyed the performance, no seizures.During
the audition rounds when there were so many awful singers, we had to
either change the channel or press “Mute” on the remote; otherwise, it
would be “seizure-mania”.
In case you were curious, some of
Sammy’s favorites over the years have been Carrie Underwood, Kelly
Pickler, Melinda Doolittle, and Bucky Covington.This year, I have no idea who Sammy would have liked.Maybe Brooke?
3/31/08 - Did you hear about the Chris Rice concert
on April 12 to celebrate Sammy's birthday? We have a block of 40 seats
reserved for Sammy's "fan club", so if you're interested in attending
the concert with us, let us know ASAP. We are also printing t-shirts
for the concert, so if you are unable to attend the concert but would
like a SammyYammy.com t-shirt, we will be selling those for $15 each.
Sammy's signature photo (the one with the big ol' grin!) will be
printed on the front of the t-shirt. Proceeds from the t-shirts will be
donated to Families for HoPE, Inc.