Fight Like Mike Saturday

Thank you . Thank You. Thank you.

I wanted to share a heartfelt thank you for all of your love and support last weekend.

As my dad shared that night, It was our fourth , FLM/Share Love Field Day.

We had over 250 people come, at least half were children haha. The laughter is what is lasting on my heart Whether you were able to come in person ( some of you drove hours) or if you were there in spirit, we felt your love from everywhere. Your texts, calls, prayers, t-shirt purchases, and donations continue to keep me swimming through the grief , more than you will ever know. Jake, Celia, and Graham look forward to this day more than Christmas now, thank you for loving them so well.

Your gifts have allowed our foundation to Share Love, shirts, and donations with so many families this year. We have been able to support doctors and nurses caring for cancer patients. We have supported a few different families in our FLM apartment in Augusta. Your love continues to touch the lives of people all over. Just last week we sent shirts to a family in Nebraska. Thank you for believing in our mission . To share love, with one person at a time.

I am grateful for our team who comes together to make Field Day so successful. Each of you bring your gifts and make the planning so easy on my part. Thank you.

Saturday night I shared a letter I wrote to Mike . Some of you did not hear it and asked if I would post it. Mike is the heart of the foundation. If not for his brave journey and your love, this foundation would not be. This is God's plan, not mine. If it were left up to me , I would humanly and selfishly, have him here ( on our back porch) grilling us burgers on our big green egg this afternoon. With Zac Brown playing through the speakers, drowning out the cries of Auburn fans losing to Georgia:). But I have learned not to question a power greater than me. Instead. Surrender. Trust.

Mike continues to guide me each and every day. He focused on just the person in front of him. Our foundation is built on this mission to help one person at a time.

" Do your little but of good where you are; it's those little bits of love put together that will overwhelm the world." Desmond Tutu

Thank you for loving us.

Lindsey

Dear You,

I have been anxious this week. About sharing today.

I’m sure that really surprises you. Ha.

I’m not sure I ever saw you nervous.

Except Maybe ….when celia got out the slime or glitter in the house.

I have tried to channel my inner you this week.

Ginny said I should share one of the numerous stories about you I often share with her at each of our sessions.

The first one that popped in my head was of us sitting at Winship

or in a hospital room on the Bmt floor at Emory.

I would be sitting next to you …..a nervous wreck .

Drinking my fourth cup of coffee; making the knots in my empty stomach even tighter.

I would read one of the devotions,out of the ten books I brought with me ,

just knowing somewhere in them were the exact words that would save you.

That if I meditated perfectly or thought the right thought it would magically transport us back to our old life. And the lab or scan results we would soon be handed would have miraculously good news.

But suddenly I would be taken out of my spiral of fearful and hopeful thoughts.

By your laugh.

On so many occasions I would lookup to find you flirting with the nurses.

Asking them to get you more crackers and juice. Or maybe a sweet water 420.

You were either talking your way into them letting you go home earlier.

Or convincing them to come to the dealership that afternoon and trade in their old truck for the new dodge ram.

YOU were selling cars.

And I was having a nervous breakdown.

Your presence.

Put me at ease .

I wish you were here today To stand up in front of everyone instead of me . with your genuine charm and love , and most likely sell them way sweatshirts than me 😆

But you are here Mike.

The kids and I know it.

When your dad sent me a picture of the crescent moon this week

I realized you are here without saying a word.

I just …have …to be present .

The way you taught me to be ,

When you could have been paralyzed by the fragility of life

staring you straight in the eye.

You kept cracking jokes with your nurses.

You kept living.

ou bring me back to the present moment

When I tripped over a rubix cube on the floor in our foyer this week.

You sat for hours teaching Jake how to solve it.

He does have your record time beat now.

You bring me back to the present when I see Celia laying on the rug by the back door doing her homework.

On the same rug , She learned her letters by playing the guessing game with you.

She would draw each letter with her fingers,

in mounds ofLotion, on your constantly itching back.

A win win for Both of you. ,

I can still hear you two laughing when you kept guessing wrong.

No one took better care of you than her .

I know you are with us.

When I am sent a picture of graham smiling with your exact same ear to ear grin ,

while his hand on the head of an alligator at your favorite place in the world.

You know I had no part in that.

He tells me he knows you would be so proud of him.

Your cajun genes are strong.

Thank goodness

When I make your jambalya for the kids , I taste the broth ,

which kinda grosses me out.

I watched you do this every time.

You had to see if the season and salt were right before you added the rice.

You had a taste for all the small details in life.

Something I often miss

As I am rushing on to the plan the next meal.

You were always present.

You shared love ( and sold cars) and focused only on the moment or person in front of you.

And this incredible spirit of yours is guiding us to do the same .

You are guiding us to those suffering right in front of us ,

that we would have easily rushed past.

You remind me these people are cheering next to me at Jake’s basketball game,

or even closer, playing on the court with him.

You remind me when I slow down and sit at the kitchen counter

and listen to Lorraine tell stories of her daughters friends battling cancer in Chattanooga.

These people who need us are our neighbors ,

our kids teachers,

and our very best friends.

They are right in front of us.

When I live like you did.

And end my pity party of wine, gummy bears, and reruns of Grey's Anatomy for 1 .

Even when it hurts and is scary.

I find purpose.

You make me believe in something so much bigger than my pain.

While you are guiding us from above.

Our fight like Mike army is still loving us Here on the ground .

And there is no greater gift .

Than to be seen

And loved.

Ok , on to beer and jambalya!.

We love you. .

Me