Sarah Rise Weekly Updates

Amy and I were hopeful, nervous, excited, and bearly containing ourselves as we went to her appointment with the orthopedic doctor on Thursday afternoon. We were carrying a box full of 50 braced bears in bags with information about Higgy Bears and notes of encouragement from kids to kids and parents to parents. We had… Read more »

Probably due to grief and the upheaval of normal family life around Christmas and early January, Sarah has been having difficulty getting through a school week without a handful of behaviors that usually result in a call home and early pick-up. When this started becoming daily rather than weekly, all of us who support her… Read more »

We do in fact have squirrels in our attic. The soffit was old and damaged, thus providing a perfect entry for squirrels to find some nice shelter. When I called a wildlife removal company, they said to send them my information and they would get back to me because at that moment they were heading… Read more »

If you know Amy, you know she has wonderful facial expressions. There is a picture of her as a baby, held against me in a sling, when she looks extremely opinionated. Little did we know how much her full self was shining through at that moment. When she got home from school on Friday I… Read more »

We caught the red-eye drive Thursday evening…Normally people refer to red-eye flights, but I had never heard of a red-eye drive until Sarah coined the phrase as we drove in the dark to Delaware on Thursday. We arrived at 10pm, so not quite the classic red-eye but certainly past Sarah’s normal tuck-in time. The late… Read more »

The last time Pittsburgh experienced a snowmageddon, Sarah was 3. She is 19 now, so perhaps I can forgive the city for not being able to handle a foot of snow. It is a very hilly city and almost half of the plows broke after their first big night of work. It was also extremely… Read more »

Brace yourself. Or, rather, brace your bear. Higgy Bears has been a hugely important part of Amy’s scoliosis journey, so when there was a fundraiser to get bears that we could assemble and donate to our local hospital, we jumped at the chance. A week ago, Amy, Sarah, and I spread bears, braces, and letters… Read more »

Sometimes the thing you feared would be so emotionally painful that you could not possibly survive it happens and you are surprised to find yourself still alive and functioning. Last Sunday evening, my dad died. In theory death is something that we all go through, but there was supposed to be a little asterisk of… Read more »

When I was ten and my parents told me they were getting a divorce, the first thing I said, when I emerged from my tears of grief, was that I would need two hair brushes. I split my time evenly between my two homes and I had two of just about everything, including two sets… Read more »

Our family Christmas visits had the usual hugs, planned fun, and unexpected hilarity. The planned fun was that I ordered Peppa Pig themed shirts for Granddad and company in accordance to who people are or what they like. Sarah’s shirt has Peppa with musical notes and Amy’s has Peppa making lots of different faces. Carl’s… Read more »