In Memory of

On February 3, my brother would have turned 29. You can read my original birthday post here. I wanted to do something for him, that was simple yet elegant and maybe a touch of whimsy. I also wanted to include more than one group of people, since he has so many people that loved him.  Using his face book page, I posted a message and asked whomever wanted to participate to email me. 


I was so surprised at the out pouring of people that wanted to participate it meant so much to our family, especially my sister and me.


I had each person, let go of three black balloons. Black because it was his favorite color and 3 because he was born on the third of February. I also created a tag for people to attach. I left the concept very open, if they wanted to attach a note, light a candle, say a prayer when they let them go, that was totally up to them. I felt if I left it open, it would be more meaningful for all of the people participating. The other fun part about it was even though we weren't all in the same place or even at the same time,  (I had friends in Australia let balloons go and all over the US), we were all connected in honoring a person that had touched each one of us in different yet equally important ways.


the tag created to attach to his balloons



I am so happy with the way that it turned out. My kiddos wrote messages to their uncle on the back of the memory tag and also drew pictures to attach to them.  I decided to write my message on the balloon its self. I know that my brother is looking down and feels the love from each and every one of us. I also added a balloon for my sister, as they celebrated their birthdays together and didn't seem right not to honor that special bond that they have.



Peanut's picture for his uncle




Pumpkin's picture for Uncle Russell






My sister with her balloons

Baby Ninja letting balloons go for her daddy.

Monkey letting his balloons go

It was a beautiful day and I am so glad that we all took the time to honor Russell.
Thank you for everyone that participated. You helped to make a very hard day just a little easier to deal with.