How do you measure eight years?
This week is always hard for us; today is eight years since our daughter Emily was snatched away from us and changed our lives forever. It’s not the day, it’s the time—Easter/Passover each year brings back the flood of memories and the heartaches.
I’m not going to write how sad I am, or how hard it has been—it has. The death of a child is about re-aligning your life. Learning to live with a hole in your heart and wondering what would have been. Time is your friend. Indeed, the pain diminishes, the sadness is always lurking just under the surface, but you learn to live with this, and you learn to laugh and enjoy, but for me, there is never total joy, because Emily is always in my mind and heart.
I made a promise to myself, and eight years in, I have kept that promise: that Emily would never be forgotten, and she hasn’t been. Emily is present every day in middle schoolers’ lives, at the end of this school year, The Emily Shane Foundation will have helped well over 500 children; think about this, they learn about her, and in her name, they learn to succeed and succeed they do.
We have stories of success. So, I ask you in the name of my daughter, who doesn’t have a chance anymore to sing, dance and laugh, to help us succeed. Please join us April 13 (information emilyshane.org) to help us raise money to keep my promise that her name lives on.
Doing good and teaching middle school children to Pass It Forward changes society. Join us to celebrate the lives of these children and to remember a beautiful spirit that touched many and changed a lot.
I love you, Em, and miss you every day and with every breath.
Forever your Dad xxx
Michael Shane