Well my update went from in the next two weeks to almost a month. Sorry about that things have gotten wide open around the house. We had the family Halloween party back in October; it was a lot of fun. We had somewhere around 50 adults and children there. There is always a hay ride and everyone looks forward to it, but this year dad had drove the tractor over to the house that day, but after getting here it wouldn’t start. We decided to pull the wagon with a truck instead, I am sure Chance thought it was funny that Papa couldn’t get his tractor started. The funny thing is the next morning it started right up, who knows? The party was hard at times, but it was also good to see everyone having fun and that is what Chance would want us to do. I am just so thankful that we have so many good friends and such a great family.
On Sunday we got an opportunity to go to the Martinsville Race thanks to ESPN’s Marty Smith. Marty and I played basketball against each other in high school, now he works for ESPN. He has really done well for himself; he had given me a call a few weeks before this to talk about Chance and our situation. It was good to hear from him and just talk racing from someone on that side of it. He gave us tickets and pit passes, once getting in the pits we got together. We got to see a lot of drivers, meet Ray Everham, go into Tony Stewart’s car hauler, sit in on the driver’s meeting, and hang out with until the race started. I also had an opportunity to talk to a friend of ours that works for Jeff Burton, I hadn’t seen him since all of this had happened either. Marty will never know how much this meant to be able to hang out with him and the opportunities to meet and be around the pits like that. We still keep in touch every so often through text messaging. He is a really good person that has worked hard and has been very successful.
That Monday the 22nd of October was his birthday. Desirae, Destiny, and I took off to the Safari Park in Natural Bridge. We had taken him up there when Destiny was little and he loved it. Destiny had a lot of fun and it was good for us, don’t get me wrong we cried some and laughed some, but all in all it was a good trip for the family. When we were getting ready to leave, Destiny wanted to get Brub Brub something so she picked out a giraffe to place on his special place at the cemetery. As we were coming back home we stopped by and placed it there. There were several things there that people had left. I don’t know how to tell you how this feel to go celebrate your 5 year old’s birthday at the cemetery. This was the hardest part of the day. Destiny enjoyed putting her gift of the giraffe there on his special place.
On Tuesday we had a Basketball rules clinic in Roanoke. Travis Cantrell (Joshua’s Dad), Mitch Reed, and I met up and headed down. This was a good time, we got an opportunity to go out and eat before the clinic and just talk about the upcoming year and other things that were going on. It was good to see a lot of the officials and other coaches that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Like I told Shawn Good of Auburn, it was six months that Desirae and I never had a normal conversation of just talking about anything; it was always about what the next procedure was or where was the next appointment.
On Wednesday night we went to Brother Mike’s revival at Beaver Creek Church of the Brethren and I spoke. It went really good, I really enjoyed sharing what God has done for my family and me. Every time I get an opportunity to speak I just pray that God will give me the words to draw someone closer to him. Especially people that are lost, because there is nothing good going to come out of the road. We left on Thursday to go the Lancaster, PA. We took Destiny, my mom and dad, and Desirae’s mom and dad. We had a lot of fun, the weather was a little cold, but it wasn’t too bad. We went to the Sights and Sounds Show on Saturday and saw In the Beginning and it was awesome. If you get the opportunity to go see a show it will definitely change your outlook on what happened and show you that God is alive and that Heaven awaits for us that believe in him. We took Destiny on a train and by the pumpkin patch that we had taken him to several years ago, but because of rain it was closed. All of these things were memories that we had with him a few years ago. Everyone had a great time and we headed home on Sunday.
This was the last trip before we got started into basketball season. After that starts it is wide open and very busy with holidays and games through February. We have had one week of practice and I am really enjoying it. We have our first scrimmage this weekend and the first game next week. I am so glad to be back on the sideline, I just wished Chance was sitting there next to me, but he is I just can’t see him. I have some really good guys right now that are working extremely hard to be successful. You have probably seen the update on the website about the tournament. I think we are going to be able to raise a large amount of money for the scholarships and American Cancer Society. You can check out when the games are, we are having a barbecue dinner that day in the cafeteria, you can check out the sponsors, we will be selling shirts that day for the event, and you can even sign up to help. We have some really good teams, players, coaches, and fans that are going to come and make this a great event and we are looking forward to this year and making it even larger next year. Thanks so much for your support; we couldn’t do it without each and every one of you.
As far as the family, everyone is holding their self up one day at a time. I have started hearing some Christmas music and some songs are hard for me. Destiny still talks about Chance everyday, this is hard for me a times. I am just thankful she had an opportunity to know her brother and to be able to spend some time with him. I just think how much fun they would be having right now. Sometimes I still feel it isn’t fair, but it is for a reason far more promising than I can ever imagine. We visit his special place frequently, we have started planning on his headstone some to, and this is just not an easy thing to do. God has been so good to us and we are so thankful for the blessing that he gives us everyday. The holidays are going to be tough, but we just have to stay focused and know that he would want us to go on. This Christmas will be different with only one Santa picture, Santa only coming for one child, opening presents for only one child, while taking presents to our other one at his special place. Thank you for your prayers, love, and support it is what gets us through everyday. We will never forget what Floyd and surrounding towns, cities, counties, and states have done for us, NEVER! THANK YOU!
Love,
Brian, Desirae, Destiny, and Angel Chance |
