Light the Night

Our family, team Bright Tomorrows, attended the Lymphoma, Leukemia Society annual walk last night. Sugar House park was filled with people! They had music and Rubios food and lots of stuff for the children leukemia patients like bouncy house, face painting, cotton candy and popcorn. We got t-shirts and was able to make a banner for our team to carry during the walk. We all got balloons, red for supporters, white for survivors and gold for those that have passed away. We all walked as a team around the park with our balloons illuminated and behind our sign. As we were all collected waiting for the walk to start, I couldn't help but notice that there weren't very many white survivor balloons. Especially adult ones. There were alot of gold. That to be perfectly honest scared me a little because it brought reality into it. Of course there wouldn't be very many adult survivors of lymphoma, especially the kind that Stephen has. It brought tears to my eyes as we started the walk and as I looked ahead and saw Stephen holding Kaiah and pointing out the big balloon arch I caught a sadness in his eye. It only lasted a second then of course the smiles and laughter took over but I saw it, I know it got to him too. The walk was kinda long (1 1/2 miles) so we had time to walk and talk. As we arrived at the finish line, the staff and volunteers were cheering and clapping for each team. Kaiah and Ari thought they were clapping for them personally and started smiling and clapping back! Our little team was able to raise $400.00 thanks to donations from Gary and Robyn, Donnie and Lynn and Mary and Dave! And of course Kamie selling candy bars! When we left they were still tallying up the totals but at that point were up to over $200,000.00! We are definitely going to make this a yearly tradition but hopefully will not have a gold balloon on our team for years and years and years! A special thank you to Stephen's sister Mary and for his brother Donnie and Lynn who came in support. It means more to him than I think anyone will ever know. I can't help but feel a sense of sadness though, his brother asked "where are the rest of our siblings". Stephen replied "maybe they are busy". But then he made eye contact with me and in his eyes, it hurt. I hope that in the future, there is no more look like that. A special thanks to our team who was there - Kasie, Jer, Kaiah and baby, Kamie, Alex, Ari, Jaylene, Bill, Mary, Donnie and Lynn. Thanks for loving Stephen. Here's to tons more of Bright Tomorrows and only white balloons....no gold.

Anniversary of a very sad day.....

Today marks the 2nd year anniversary of the passing of a great man Roberto Ari Zamora.

He was the father of my son-in-law Alex. His body fought hard but ultimately stupid Cancer won. I only had the honor of meeting him a few times but this is what I remember and smile about .....

He loved Stephen's cooking.....

He understood more english than he let on cause he would laugh when Alex would say something "dirty" to Kamie....

He would always smile when he greeted you with this big open mouth smile...just like little Ari..

He loved to ignore Alex's mom and would pretend he couldn't hear her....

He was a fighter.... and never gave up.

Alex told me stories of how brave he was. How he stood up for his rights and had to spend a year in jail for it. How he escaped Cuba and came to America to find a better life for himself and to raise a family. How he worked so hard and raised 3 wonderful boys and gave them freedom of being an American citizen. He did all of this and barely spoke and English.

Roberto,

I want you to know you did a tremendous job. Your son Alex is perfect for my daughter.

He works so hard to make her happy and to provide her and little Ari with everything they could ever want or need. He has excelled in the church, that he had left your home and Boston to pursue. This year, he blessed his son and gave him a name, your name, and took his family to the temple so that they can be together for eternity. He loves his son and lights up whenever he sees him. He becomes this tender teddybear whenever he holds him and sings songs to him and doesn't care who hears him. Your namesake looks just like you. He is the light of my daughters life and ours. He is such a sweet spirit and just loves to laugh and be held and cuddle. I hope you are proud of your legacy.....

it is amazing.

Always loved....Never forgotten...