A cold spring day in Plymouth

It was 1999 or 2000 and we made a springtime trip to Cape Cod and Plymouth. '"Rediscovered" these photos after they were recently scanned again but from the negatives instead of the prints revealing a depth of detail previously not evident. These pictures really take me back to that cold but bright spring day and to our life as it was then in the "growing up" years. (Click on each photo to get the nice larger view and use scroll bars to see the whole picture.)

Photos: Laura on the Mayflower II, modern replica of the Mayflower; view of Plimouth Plantation from the watchtower; Laura and Suse examine the old cannon in the tower.

At the Service Fair

First, a big thank you to our Boonton Township Boy Scout Troop for the generous donation to Alex's Lemonade Stand in memory of Laura. Here they are, nearly all 42 of them, in a photo outside the Parish House where they met recently. And it was a week ago now that we had our information table about Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation at the "Empty Bowls"/Service Fair event at the high school. To bring visitors to our table had a guess the number of jelly bean contest with this cute little duck I found in Williams Stationery store as one of the prizes (so cute-and it quacks too- bought another to keep in Laura's room). The event was packed and we had nonstop visitors looking at our Alex's Lemonade materials. If anything, it became too crowded to be conducive for visitors to read all the many posters we brought about ALSF and childhood cancer. While all my very enthusiastic helpers were taking care of the table, I toured the displays of the other organizations represented. One that interested me was the local Roots and Wings Foundation which provides mentoring and support to young adults coming out of a childhood of foster care.
Suse gave blood for the first time this past week. We're very proud of her!

© The New Yorker Collection 1995 Mike Twohy from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved.

It was an essential part of Laura's day, especially during treatment, to thoroughly peruse the newspaper comics. Laura liked cartoons and comics in books and magazines too. Especially appealing, and at times mysterious to Laura in their meaning, were the cartoons in the New Yorker. We had the New Yorker cat calendar one year and there was one particularly memorable cartoon that Laura and the rest of us liked.
By arrangement with the Cartoon Bank, we will bring you that very cartoon in the next post. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. (Hint: if you are a cat owner, we are sure you will.)

Photos: Laura during her first hospitalization for diagnosis of neuroblastoma (May 2005) reading her comics. And in December 2006 during her final hospitalization, Laura reading what would be her last Sunday comics, with her sister Suse by her side.

Scenes from a Snow Day

"Sled Dog" weather on the way

Winter storm warning in effect. They say there is a lot of snow on the way for us. Sure to be a delight for dogs that love snow
It's been two full years, and two full months, without Laura now. Three times the snows have fallen and I could only dream of the delight in Laura's eye as she surveyed the snow from our window. Three winters when I could only just touch the snowpants and jackets in the closet, and not see a young girl carefully donning her layers, her boots, mittens and hat, to step out into the snowy world she so loved to explore.
A friend and former colleague from work passed away recently. I attend the memorial service, see old friends. I try to support the family as best I can, not trusting that people will see the obituary, I call and email people I haven't spoken to in years. It turns out most of them did not know, would not have heard so soon otherwise. Something I have learned from our own sad experience. It's worth it to make that extra effort to let people know. It brings the possibility of a broader circle reaching out to the bereaved family and it is a good deed one can do.
It's now three people who once signed the book at Laura's visitation and Memorial Service, who were there with us in our sorrow then but who are now gone themselves.