I’m not sure if anyone is still checking in here, but if so, I wanted to give an enormous thank you shout out to all of you that took the time out of your Saturday afternoon to celebrate Chris’s life with us. WOW! What a party it was. I truly believe that Chris was there and I have no doubt that he was beaming from ear to ear. All of you were eating and drinking while sharing your own Chris stories. I heard about so many new friendships that were made yesterday. THAT… that right there is what Chris was all about. Having his friends and family forming new friendships with each other. 

Preston seemed to take on the spirit of his dad. He was so concerned that the food would not be everything that he ordered to represent his dad. He stood by watching the servers like a hawk as they put each prepared dish out. Once people started to arrive he (in true Chris form) offered to take their jackets to hang up. Eventually, he gave up, saying that there were just too many to try to keep up with. And as soon as his own friends started to roll in, all his hosting skills went out the window. He had a ball running around with his buddies. For a few short hours, he was just an ordinary kid without the weight of his Dad’s death hanging over him. A few times, I pretended that this was a surprise birthday party that we were throwing for Chris. Similar to his 40th birthday party just 8 years earlier that we held in the lower level of this same Park Club. And any minute Chris was going to be walking through the doors blinded folded, just like his 40th. Once the blindfold would come off and he would see all of his friends and family, there would be that big “HEEEY!” in his high pitched voice that only happened when he was excited. But no matter how hard I wished or starred at that door, he never came through it. And my attention would be snapped back with another “I’m so sorry for your loss.” 

For me, the day was a complete whirlwind. I was in awe of the number of people that came and who those people were. Three people from Chris’s work team traveled over from the Detroit area. One of the gal’s was one of my personal heroes as she was the one that agreed to work with Chris for an hour a day that first week after he finally quit working. If you recall, this was to help keep his mind busy and give him something to look forward to doing and have that “I’ve accomplished something today” feeling. We would text several times a day to coordinate when he would be able to be online and she would guide me on the “how to’s” if he couldn’t finish. I had never seen her, only knew her by name from her texts. When she introduced herself, it was like a wave of emotion hit me. Like I just met a long-lost comrade that I had fought in a war with. I was so honored to meet her. What she did for my guy during his last days I will never forget.

Another surprise was the family members from Chris’s side that traveled over from Chicago. Not only was that a distance, but I’m sure difficult, as several of them I knew it was probably a very long ride due to their age. But the biggest surprise of all was to see Chris’s oncologist and his PA stop in. Really? What doctor does that? I’m sure he must, unfortunately, have patients pass too often then he would like that it would be difficult to go to each and every service. Yet, he (they both!) were there. My heart just soared and felt like all had come full circle. Our crazy journey that started almost 2 years earlier with this doctor was now completed with him witnessing a last piece of Chris. Over those years I had watched a unique doctor-patient relationship grow into a special bond that they shared. I’ve tried to figure it out and the only thing I could come up with is that they “got” each other. 

My goal for this Celebration of Life party was to be able to honor Chris, my husband in the fashion that he would have wanted and deserved. As the party slowly came to an end and I was gathering up my items to take home, I whispered, “It was good wasn’t it?” And I could so easily hear Chris say, “Yeah, you did good KK, you did good.”