Looking Up

Everybody loves a good story, right? Whether a children's fairy tale, a classic novel, the year's best movie or sitting with friends and reminiscing, a good story reaches into our souls and grips our emotions. Joy, tears, laughter and passion can all be evoked from the great stories we hear.  Think about what emotions you felt as you heard the stories of Capt. Sully landing that plane, Hurricane Katrina's devastation or the recent shooting in Tuscon.  What we sometimes overlook, however, are the simple stories of our lives and the power they have to stir up those same emotions; to transport us to another time and place, and just maybe, to teach us a lesson we'll need one day. 

So this story is for my five amazing children - Ryan, Brigid, Sean, Kyle and Nolan - because your love for each other and family is the story of my life.  We moved to Jacksonville Florida in 1990 when the kids were all under ten years of age (yep, five under 10).  On a trip to the beach and down to St Augustine, we stopped for a group photo of the kids as they sat on and around an old cannon and the stack of cannon balls outside of Fort Mantanzas.   If you've ever tried to get a good shot of the kids while they were much more interested in something else, you know what was going on. So in an attempt to get the picture, Gina says "Hey, look up!"  Well our little ones promptly looked straight up, not at the camera, but into the sky and it was forever caught on film.  Not only did we laugh that day, but we now have a family tradition of the famous "Look Up" picture.  Just browse through our family photos, time after time you'll find a group shot of the kids looking up - birthdays, graduations, weddings - no occasion goes by without one.

                      Ryan, Kyle and Nolan at Kyle's boot camp graduation

Living with ALS brings its share of distractions, hardships and the temptation to get down in the dumps about life.  But, to you my family, I say this, no matter what ALS brings to my life, I'll always be looking up because that's who we are and that's what we do.   What's your story?