Yesterday was six months to the day since Summer died. My heart has ached so much over the last six months that sometimes I don’t think I can bear it. Mostly, I have no idea when, or if, this sadness will ever leave me. I have no experience with grief like this.

But yesterday I saw something that gave me hope. It was a rose bush. This is a bush I thought I had eliminated six years ago. I had had a shed built in my backyard, and this rose bush was in the way — just a few feet from the new front door. I decided that it had to go. I cut it down to within an inch from the ground and covered the area with pine straw. I never gave the rose bush another thought.

So you can imagine my surprise yesterday when I noticed that the rose bush was back – in a big way. Stretching out into the yard, it was full of deep red flowers. I thought about how slowly it must have grown back, inching toward the sun, reaching out a tiny bit every day. Progress so slow that it had escaped my notice.

And somehow, that rose bush made me think of my heart, which feels like it has been cut down to within an inch of its life. Maybe, like the rose bush, my heart will grow back, too. Maybe with time – with grace – it, too, will bloom again.

Perhaps that’s just how the universe works — constantly recreating and discovering itself — and I am no exception. Perhaps my heart will heal as surely and naturally as the beautiful rose bush in my backyard.

This Tuesday night, April 16th, the Riverwood National Honor Society is hosting an art show and silent auction from 5:30-8:30p.  The proceeds from the silent auction will be donated to Team Summer.

One of Summer’s favorite classes at Riverwood was photography, and her teacher, Dana Munson, is one of the people heading up this fundraiser.

All the art work has all been created by the students and includes paintings, drawings, multi-media, and photography. Brenda Richterkessing, who took all those great pictures of Summer last year, is one of the judges and says there is some fabulous, creative artwork in the show!

Riverwood’s address is 5900 Raider Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30328. Please join us! All are welcome!

We are enormously grateful for the support and look forward to a fun evening!

Before she got sick, she played the French horn – second chair – in her high school band. But when she had to leave school for treatments, she had to leave the school’s French horn behind, too. Music had been such a big part of her life, and now she had no instrument to play – at just the time when playing music could soothe her. Her family was struggling to pay the ever-growing mound of medical bills, so buying an instrument was out of the question.

So Team Summer went to work. We consulted with Haley’s band teacher and learned that the instrument she had been playing was a professional class – a Conn 8D, which retails for $3,700! We didn’t want her to have to go backwards in quality, so, after some investigation, we found an excellent used Conn 8D, exactly like the one Haley had been playing at school!

And here is the cool part. Remember Jack Schneider, the 15-year-old boy who threw a benefit concert for Team Summer this past January? He designated all the funds he raised – $1,100 – to go towards Haley’s gift. Talk about kids helping kids – one musician to another!  The rest of the cost of the French horn was paid for through generous donations from people like you!

Lacey Johnson, Team Summer kid and cancer survivor, surprised Haley with her gift. When Haley’s mom saw Haley’s reaction, she told us that was the first time she had seen Haley smile like that in a very, very long time. Later, Haley’s mom wrote to tell us that, after we left, Haley said, “I just wanted to take my happiness and spill it all over the floor!” We just love that expression!

Haley, who has felt very isolated and alone since her diagnosis, now knows she is a part of a network of kids with cancer who are there for each other with help and support.

Best of all, Haley is now on the lookout for another kid with cancer to help, and soon it will be her turn to give a gift and extend the hand of friendship to a kid having a very difficult time.