Catching up

Hey buddy,

I've got a lot to catch you up on. It's been a tough, but rewarding, year and I haven't spent the amount of time with you I'd like.

Today's a tough one because it's the anniversary of the day you died. I'm choosing to put a happier spin on it since it's a good a day as any to do some things for you, and with you.

Your sister started Grade 4 this week. She's working on something special, but we'll let her tell everyone about it when the time is right.

Mom's been in a lot of pain this year due to a hernia, but she's got surgery next week and we're all hoping it leads to her feeling better and being able to do more.

You might remember our dog Rifle, who joined our family in 2015, just a few months before you passed. She died in October; it was another connection to you that was hard to see go.

And me? I've been busy between my day job and the volunteer job I took on with the Special Olympics national games our city just hosted. It took up all of my energy, but it was also a once in a lifetime opportunity. There were definitely some similarities to when you were in hospital; I didn't sleep much, it was a wild roller coaster, and I'm glad that I was there for it.

Somewhere in there, we helped run a gaming room and raised some money for the hospital at our public library's comic convention, plus we paired with the Medicine Hat Mavericks for another Superhero Night fundraiser.

The library event raised a couple hundred dollars ($203.25 to be exact), while the Mavs wound up with a donation of $1,195.46 between their 50/50 and selling special hats. Our community keeps us going.

Now it's Childhood Cancer Month, so we've got our big online auction coming up, then the annual 25-hour game day. Because we've been so busy, we're pushing the auction to Oct. 2-4, and game day will be Nov. 7-8. Normally we keep the auction in September, and game day to the weekend where the time change happens, but it made more sense to delay and give us time.

Miss you so much buddy. Thanks for being patient with us.