The Breton/Sampietro clan are fully behind Team Nan Hinds…”Fight Like Hell!”
Love the support, guys. It’s pictures like this that keep mom going. It’s not always easy, but with more support and inspiration like this, she’s determined to live up her motto.
Thank you all.
Todd
It’s been an interesting weekend in Daphne, Alabama and I have plenty of thoughts, observations and realizations that I’m sure I’ll talk about in the days and weeks to come.
I was fortunate to watch one specific event today which will stick with me for a long time. In yet another overwhelming display of the love and support Mom and Dad have seen, I witnessed what’s become their daily tradition. Every day, mom and dad are receiving cards and packages from across the country; from immediate family and distant relatives, from friends old and new, and co-workers from Bowdoinham Community School, BIW, General Dynamics, and Austal.
The two have worked out a very familiar routine, where dad carefully opens each envelope with his new letter opener, removes the card and hands it to Mom without ever revealing the sender. Mom will begin to read the card as long as she can, and when emotion overtakes her, dad deftly picks up without skipping a beat or stepping over her while she tries her damndest to read the whole thing without starting to cry. They read every word of every card, whether printed by Hallmark or written by the sender. Mom finishes up by reading the signature, and the two will share a moment of reflection thinking about the card, the message and the sender. There’s a level of unspoken tenderness shared between them in this moment which is truly touching to see, and an inspiring level of silent affection for a relative newlywed to aspire toward in his own marriage.
I was assigned the task of putting the cards back into the envelopes today, which was just a terrible choice for mom and dad to make. Offensive lineman, and wannabe amateur boxers should not be assigned tasks requiring any level of fine motor skills! Once Dad took over and put the cards back into the envelopes, they were neatly stacked and placed into the basket of cards pictured above, which is rapidly running out of real estate (but don’t stop sending, I’ll buy them a bigger basket!).
Every word of every card has been seen, read and genuinely appreciated by both Mom and Dad. Your continued words of support, encouragement and love lift them on a daily basis.
Thank you all for helping to get everyone through this process, as the support from our ever growing network inspires us on every day.
-Todd