I wrote this 6 years ago but feel it is worth sharing again. My oldest son died January 8th, 2013 and his 3 siblings ran the St. Jude half marathon at the end of April 2013 in his memory. I wrote this after watching them all 3 cross the finish line.

I woke up this morning thinking that just last week in this same kind of rain that we were all at the St. Jude Country Music Marathon. I had so much fun and Melinda already has another one in the making for us in September.
As our kids were growing up we always watched and loved the Olympics. I remember one time that Matthew had a tooth that was barely hanging for days and we watched the Olympics one night and he did a bunch of flips off our couch and the next morning he woke up with no tooth. I panicked thinking he had swallowed it in his sleep but found it later hiding under the covers.
I have always felt like my life with my kids was like an Olympic runner carrying a torch and today is my run but someday I will hand that torch off to them and they will continue on. Whatever values and thoughts that I hold dear they will continue on through them……the cycle of life they say…..
Last Saturday morning as I stood and watched in the pouring rain for our three children to round that last curve and run to the finish line, I have never had my lifelong thoughts to appear more real and more vivid than at that moment! I cannot put into words how proud that I felt! With their hands stretched upward towards the sky and fingers in the air representing their late brother, I knew that Danny was right there with them and that the torch of my life was carried by not just three that day but by all four. This mother stood there and bawled like a baby and I know in my heart that my life has not been in vain. Mark and I have a fine legacy following us and even though Danny preceded us in death, he left his mark on all of us and he will travel down through time with the rest of them. All four have been amazing persons and I am so honored to be called their MOM!