Phew…. This is going to be a quick overview of the last few weeks. I haven’t had time, energy, or desire to post in such a long time, and honestly haven’t taken very many photos either.
Week 20
On Sunday (Mother’s Day), Kyle and I ate lunch at his parent’s and dinner at his house, both delicious of course. Lunch was steaks and my favorite grilled peppers, haha 
and dinner was “post-modern and traditional” pigs-in-a-blanket.
Monday I had my favorite bento box (Beef Sukiyaki!) ever following my last lunch shift ever.
The rest of the week I spent working from the office and getting into the swing of things with the new job. My desk was the conference table until we got the office set up later in the week. I did have flowers from Kyle to make things pretty though!
On Thursday I was very pleasantly surprised with a going away party at Cerulean! They had planned it all out, getting me to come in because I had plans to hang out with Toni, hiding me out on the porch and then getting the lounge ready for the party after most of the customers had left, it was SO sweet! Toni and Lindsey made and decorated the cutest cupcakes ever
Friday was my last dinner shift, Kyle and 2 friends came in and made me a little (very little, that plate is about 2 x 2 inches!) sampler plate of their meals for me to take back to the kitchen and eat, haha!
We celebrated Becca’s birthday after work! Toni and I had put together a fun bag of presents for her, and Lindsey decorated cupcakes (2 days in a row!). We got a cute-sie picture of us group-hugging (Becca, Toni and I).
That night ended with what was the beginning of an extremely hard week. First I got an email from my mom saying that I had probably already heard if I’d been on Facebook (which I hadn’t been) that my friend Daniel Parker was in a bike accident. I immediately got online to see if I could find anything out and then got a voicemail from my friend Michael saying that it was a really bad accident.
On Saturday I got my stuff packed up, met two of the interns at the office to get them going on some work and then left for Middlebury to meet Kyle at his work and we left for Michigan from there. My brother Jon and friend Michael had both been at the hospital (U of M Hospital in Ann Arbor) since the middle of the night. We had been praying for a miracle, although at that point it didn’t look good. Not being there yet or fully knowing the situation I had some hope when they took him back into surgery on Saturday to remove more of his skull to relieve pressure, but by the time we were almost there Jon had texted me to make me aware of the situation and that the doctors had told the family they did not expect him to live 24 hours. It was just a week before that Daniel had driven from Grand Rapids, MI to Winona Lake, IN to attend my graduation, and had to immediately head back to Hillsdale, MI for his brothers graduation. A week earlier I had hugged him, taken pictures with him, and been so blessed by his being there. Now I was on my way to the hospital to say goodbye and hug his family. It was a difficult day, followed by many more difficult days. I was also able to see Rosie, one of my youth group girls (from when I worked with the Countryside youth group in 2006-07). Her older sister Kayla was one floor above Daniel in an induced coma with a life-threatening tumor on her right lung.
Week 21
Sunday was very emotionally draining. It was a blessing to be at Countryside with my church family, it was a blessing to listen to Pastor talk about Daniel and the kind of man of God he always was. That afternoon two dear ladies from Countryside hosted a graduation open house for me at my old house (the church’s parsonage). It was hard to go ahead with the open house with everything that was going on, but I was thankful that all the leftover food (and there was lots even though the open house had a great turnout!) was able to go to the church to help feed the people coming in from out-of-town to be with the Parkers. I got to see lots of people that I never get to see anymore, people not from Countryside that I wouldn’t normally see on a trip to Michigan. Mom and dad even came!!! I called them on Skype right before the open house was starting and talked for a bit and then as people showed up they would talk to me for a bit and then talk to mom and dad on video chat! At one point it died down a little and I asked dad if he wanted me to shut it down, and he said, “No, if I see someone I know I’ll holler at them!
Kyle was a huge help the whole weekend. He drove everywhere, took care of me, and let me cry… Besides crying off and on the whole weekend, after the open house I was completely spent and cried almost all the way back to Indiana. We stopped at Kyle’s parents for awhile to see them and I cried with them too.
Daniel’s breathing tube had been taken out sometime during the afternoon, and he was kept on life support until the organ donations could be all lined up. He was taken off life support at 10:15pm and he passed away at 10:30pm.
Monday was a marathon day at work with 3 out of the 5 interns there and getting ready for a big training on Tuesday. We worked a solid 12 hour day getting materials ready and binders put together.
On Tuesday we had a training for all “front-of-the-line” staff. I was one of the presenters, along with my boss, the Provost, and the V.P. of Student Affairs. The training went really well! After work Kyle and I had a sushi date at Cerulean.
Wednesday I left work early to drive to Michigan for Daniel’s visitation. Over 1,000 people went to the visitation, he had touched so many lives.
Thursday was the funeral, a difficult and emotional day, but it truly was a celebration of Daniel’s life.
I don’t remember anything about Friday… That week was just difficult. The internet played such a huge role with people grieving and sharing memories about Daniel over Facebook, Twitter and blogs that I found myself just wanting to read everything I could about Daniel in the evenings after work, which of course made me very emotional, there were several nights when I just stayed at work a little late to check my email and then left my computer there so I wouldn’t be able to get online for hours at home.
Saturday I got loads of stuff done at home (mainly laundry!)
Week 22
Sunday Kyle and I went to church, hung out with his dad for awhile, and then spent the afternoon getting sun with his brother Lee.
Monday-Friday was more of the marathon that is the new job! We’re getting ready to launch a huge marketing campaign and that requires all sorts of research, meetings, planning, writing, etc… I really need to take pictures of my desk! At one point I had 2 bouquets of flowers from Kyle, but alas they have died by now. I did snap a picture of 2 of the interns busily drafting a letter together, they’re in their “thinking” position, I love it!
Friday was the beginning of a long vacation weekend that Kyle and I spent galavanting around doing different fun things and visiting/spending time with different fun people! Friday night we had dinner with friends Craig and Cara at this super hokey looking place in Goshen called “Dandino’s.” The menu was so funny, and honestly the place looked like it needed to go on the show Kitchen Nightmares, but the food was pretty good!
One of my favorite parts was on Saturday when we went to Danville, IN to visit his friend Marcus and the three of us spent the whole afternoon at the community pool. We had a blast cruising down the giant water slides, drifting around the lazy river, doing cannon-balls off the diving board and sitting around talking and getting sun. For 10 minutes of every hour they have “adult swim,” which I guess is to give the life-guards a break and probably to encourage the kids to stop playing and use the bathroom once in awhile. Well, we took full advantage of adult swim and would go down the water slide 5 times in a row when there was no line of little kids
There’s the recap of the last few weeks!
