Amazed that I survived...

Last week I wrote a post about the approach of a day that could be pretty scary for me.  Father's Day approaching brought up a lot of feelings and caused a little anxiety for me.  I had told myself that I would not allow the things that happened to me detract from my day or the pride I should feel as a Father.  I am here to report that I did indeed survive. 

I say this with a little bit of jest, but it was a big deal and I am glad to say that we had a very nice day.  I received a few very nice keepsake gifts.  My wife got me a beautiful frame with a giraffe on it.  I also got a bracelet from my Mother-in-Law that I have been wearing since.  We went out in the morning for a great brunch and had a great time at the Elmwood Park Zoo.  We even got to feed the Giraffes, which is Hannah's animal, so that made it even better. 


The thing that made the day nice for me as well was the feeling I got when people went out of their way to recognize me as a father.  A variety of my friends and family members made sure to tell me "Happy Father's Day" and to acknowledge that even though my daughter was taken from me, I was still a father.  It was a good feeling to realize as well that she is not forgotten. 

That being said, there were also a variety of people that did not recognize the situation.  I am not mad at those people.  I am not offended.  I realize that it is sometimes hard for people to know how to deal with these types of situations.  I also know that it can be hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes to realize that it may be important to hear something as small as a "Happy Father's Day."  I do not hold it against the people that are struggling with this.  I think that instead of being mad and wasting that energy, it is important to use that energy to help spread awareness and to educate people on these types of situations.  If people don't know how common it is or how it affects people, how can they know how to react?  I think that this is a big part of why I am glad we started Hannah's Heart and Love. 

On a totally unrelated side note, yesterday I was out at a training for work.  While I was there, I decided to grab some of the refreshments that had been made available to us.  When I went to grab a coke, I saw that all the bottles said "Share a coke with..." and then lists a random name.  It is part of a national ad campaign the are running, "#Shareacoke."  I found this humorous and took a quick peak at the 50 or so bottles sitting there and thought "I wonder if I can find my name?"  Well in only a matter of seconds, I didn't find my name.  I did however find Hannah's.  So I had to grab it and I plan on keeping it.  I know the picture is blurry but I still wanted to put it on here.  It put a little extra smile on my face.