In Memory of Peter E Harrison

My Grand Dad died on a Sunday. I turned 29 the following Thursday. The 12 days in between were a time of reflective thought for me and I don't know why exactly, but loosing my Grand Dad has impacted me as I would have never imagined. I thought a lot about the young man that he was, a man I knew virtually nothing about. I imagined the challenges that he encountered as a boy and young man. I pondered the significance of his time at war. I considered the immense sacrifices that he made for his family over the years. I agonized at the thought of rampant sickness taking over his body. My Grand Dad was the strongest man I have ever known, in every sense of the word and the last time I saw him, he was merely a shadow of himself. As I thought about these things in grief I started to analyze myself and my life. All I could think about was the one thing that my Grand Dad told me more then anyone else, " you can do whatever it is you want to do.' The more I thought about this, the more I actually started to believe it. That's when I decided that I have to do something.

Cancer is what ultimately took my Grand Dad, but Parkinson's Disease is what debilitated him over the years and stole him little by little. That is why I am participating in this event as a member of The Michael J Fox Foundations Team Fox. Here is the link to my Team Fox page. I haven't spent much time there and it deserves some attention in the near future. I will keep you posted as I update it.

http://www.teamfox.org/siteapps/personalpage/ShowPage.aspx?c=pjJ0J8MHIoE&b=5594023&sid=lvK1KcPQIbIYIiMUJsF&elid=3176764077

I loved my Grand Dad dearly and I feel the need to find some good in all of the sadness.

I will resume the happy entries tomorrow, but I wanted to give you some background on this project and where the strength is coming from...because it is amazing where you can find strength when you are pretty sure that there is none left.