Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday celebrated to remember friends and family that have died. Evelyn embraced her heritage head on and loved every thing about it. She was fluent in Spanish and enjoyed the food, the celebrations, and her family. She loved visiting her grandmother, aunts, uncles,…
When we are young, if we are lucky, we never have to face the death of someone close to us. My first encounter with death was at 19, still a kid by many standards, but still considered a man. Was serving my country on a ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean when I…
Today is Father’s Day. People all over the world will have dinners with their kids and dinners with their parents. Last year on this day, we went to a friend’s home so we could all celebrate together. Evelyn had invited some friends over to swim, so she didn’t come with us, which was fine, because…
When Evelyn died, we did the normal thing, we called family and close friends to tell them of our loss. What about everyone else? Between the family, there were literally hundreds of people who needed to know about Evelyn, about us, and how and when to pay respects. We turned to social media. In the…
Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey hosted by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson is a reboot of the 80s PBS show Cosmos: A Personal Journey, hosted by the late astronomer Dr. Carl Sagan. I watched the first episode last night with eagerness. I really wanted to like it. I wasn’t really a fan of the 80s show, but…
Finally another painful milestone is behind us. Robbie Gillespie was sentenced to 10 years for his role in the death of our daughter. It was an emotional day for everyone. Thank you to everyone who has stood behind us and supported us during this tragedy. What follows is our Victim Impact Statement at the sentencing…
I walk by your room every day The door is open I see the bed where you used to lay Now you’re broken You were your own person Always rehearsing For a part that you would never get Now we’re just wailing and cursing You left us here to feel the pain. All pain and…
Related to the post I made yesterday on the six-month anniversary of my daughter’s death, I was asked what was the story behind the photo that accompanied that story. It was January 2011. I had been shooting seriously as a photographer for just over a year, and Evelyn had been in her third fashion show….
It’s been six months since Evelyn left us. Sometimes it seems like it was years ago, and other times it still feels like she will walk through the door at any moment. Six months is a significant milestone for us. It’s half a year, 26 weeks, 182 days since we’ve been able to touch, hold,…