August 9th, 2009...Happy Birthday Jevesh!

Today marks the 8 month birthday for Jevesh. Since December, this child has had to face more tragedy and trials than many will suffer in a lifetime. After multiple surgeries and procedures and spending half of his first year of life in the hospital, this child continues to be a miracle fighter. He smiles, he laughs, he doesn't know he is sick. There are still many hurdles ahead and there are good days and not so good days, but he is a fighter. He has his mother's strength and his father's spirit and together, we hold on to the faith that he will continue to beat the odds.

Little one, you are blessed and you are a blessing. You are loved by many. May your health be strong, your pain be less, your strength be boundless, your happiness and joy overflowing, and your blessings infinite. You hold a special place in more than a few people's hearts and you and your mom were your father's heart and life.

August 8th, 2009

I wanted to first take the opportunity to thank all those that were able to make it to the market, share some cake, some mango tea, and many kind words. Your thoughts and prayers are so very much appreciated as life moves forward and we continue to cope with this loss. We do not forget, and the pain does not go away, but each day, we try and remember more of the happier memories and not be sad over them, but instead smile. Jevesh carries in him the beautiful smile and great spirit of his mother and father and you cannot help but smile yourself and feel your heart swell in happiness to see this child, after all he has been through, continue to be strong, to laugh, to smile, and to live each day, not knowing what he has been through or that he is even sick.

The following video is a rememberance video of Amit and celebration of Jevesh.

August 7th, 2009

This poem is Amit...it embodies who he was and why we are better for having had him touch our hearts and our lives...

The
Optimist's Creed

Be so
strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

Talk
health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you met.

Make
all your friends feel there is something in them.

Look
at the sunny side of everything.

Be as
enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your
own.

Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the
greater achievements of the future.

Give
everyone a smile.

Spend
so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize
others.

Be
too big for worry and too noble for anger.

-Christina D. Larsen

August 6th 2008 - August 6th 2009

As I sit here waiting for the words to enter my brain for today's blog...one of the hardest I will ever have to write, I am overwhelmed with emotion...Saddness, grief, anger, none of which Amit would want me or any of us to feel and yet I cannot help it...To have lost a friend, for Deepika to have lost the love of her life, for Jevesh to lose his father, for Amit's family to suffer this loss, for our community to endure this tragedy...and not have some of these emotions...I wish I was a better person, alas, I am human.

Amit did not die from cancer, a bad diet, a fluke medical condition...Amit died because one man made a choice, a selfish choice, a choice that was NO accident...A man CHOSE to drink and drive, chose not to get a safe ride home, chose to talk on a cell phone while driving, chose to drive at excessive speed, chose to drive while over three times the legal limit, chose to drive the wrong way on the road...Drunk Driving is NEVER an accident...it is a choice...and as far as I am concerned, it is Murder. The fact that there are people who have committed quote unquote "victimless crimes" and been punished more severly than a man who made not one, but a seried of horrifically bad choices, is not just tragic, it is sickening and despicable. The man who murdered Amit was likely home with his children long before Jevesh ever came home to a house without his father!

When we lost Amit, our hearts absolutely broke...I do not only mean that metaphorically, I mean our hearts hurt...we felt the physical ache of a heart that was irreparably broken...our hearts hurt! Our souls Ached! Our minds screamed out in absolute agony...Praying every moment of every day that this whole tragedy was some terrible nightmare, that it wasn't real, that at any moment, Amit would come walking through that door to greet Deepika with a huge smile on his face, greeting her with a "helloo honey!" and a kiss...but he hasn't, he won't, he Never will...

I encourage each and every one of you to stand up and make the choice to have your voice heard, to say ENOUGH is ENOUGH! How many more loved ones have to die? How many more families and friends must live with how such a tragedy devastates their lives? WHEN do we as a community decide what is most important?

On August 6th, 2008, Amit fell victim to a preventable tragedy...every year THOUSANDS more join that group of victims, and TOO MANY times...Too Many Times! the perpetrators of these crimes are barely punished, if at all, while Deepika, other wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, and so on, are sentenced to life, life without parole, life without their loved ones, life filled with coping with that loss, that pain, that heartache, a life sentence without their loved ones by their side, a life without their friend, husband, father. On August 6th, 2008, it was Amit who fell victim...tomorrow, next month, next year, maybe even tonight, you or one of your loved ones could be next. DON'T WAIT to take action because you find yourself having one more personal reason to care about this matter... Do something NOW, please do not wait for someone else you care about to fall victim to another person's selfish choice.

One year....in one year we have experienced such pain, such sorrow, such utter and complete heartbreak....There are no words that can ever truly express the loss that such a tragedy brings to so many. Today, we want to celebrate the wonderful life of an amazing man who touched so many lives. To some he was the "Indian food guy," to others he was that smiling man who just made their day with a kind word and a smile and just by being nice, to others he was a friend, a brother, a cousin, an uncle, and to Deepika, he was her loving husband and best friend...and he would have been an adoring father to Jevesh...

We have been blessed to have had what little time we could with Amit and we pray that we will be blessed with a long life with Jevesh. Their souls bring joy to our hearts and we are better for having them in our lives. I know that I am surely a better person for having had the opportunity to call Amit my friend, and it is an honor, privilege, and blessing to have Deepika and Jevesh in my life. My heart both aches and is filled with joy and I hope you will join me in celebrating the lives of these wonderful people.

We will have a small memorial table set up at the Saturday Chico Farmer's Market. We will have a memory book where people can share their memories of Amit, well wishes for Deepika and Jevesh, or share pleasant thoughts and blessings. Please pass the word around.

Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, prayers, and friendship to Deepika and Jevesh...you may never know how much it has meant to them.

August 5th, 2009

May Our Friendship Last Forever

May our friendship last forever;
May I sail upon your sea.
May we go through life together;
May there always be a "we."
May I be your endless sky;
May you breathe my gentle air.
May younever wonder why
Each time you look for me, I'm there.

May we be for each a smile
Like the warm, life-giving sun;
Yet when we're in pain awhile,
May our suffering be one.

May we share our special days,
The happiness of one for two;
And if we must go separate ways,
Let my love remain with you.

-Nicholas Gordon

August 4th, 2009

For Deepika, For Deepika's Mom, For Amit's mother....

Everybody knows that a good mother gives her child a feeling of trust and stability. She is their earth. She is the one they can count on for the things that matter most of all. She is their food and their bed and the extra blanket when it grows cold in the night; she is their warmth and their health and their shelter; she is the one they want to be near when they cry. She is the only person in the whole world in a whole lifetime who can be these things to her children. There is no substitute for her. Somehow even her clothes feel different to her children's hands from anybody else's clothes. Only to touch her skirt or her sleeve makes a troubled child feel better.

-Katherine Butler Hathaway

August 3, 2009

Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,

Gone far away into the silent land;

When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day

you tell me of our future that you planned;

Only remember me; you understand

It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for awhile

And afterwards remember, do not grieve;

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than that you should remember and be sad.

-Christina Rossetti

August 2, 2009

...friends are quiet angels who sit on our shoulders and lift our wings when we forget how to fly... -Unknown




Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same... -Flavia Weedn




Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom... -Marcel Proust

Some friends come and go like a season...Others are arranged in our life for a reason... -Sharita Gadison

I believe in angels, the kind heaven sends. I am surrounded by angels, but I call them my best friends... -Unknown

If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you made me smile, the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand... -Unknown

August 1, 2009...A week of pics

To celebrate Jevesh's 8 month birthday and remember and celebrate the life of Amit, taken from us a year ago, I will post photos every day from today through next Sunday. Please take a moment to pass on well wishes, share your memories, and pass the word to others for them to do the same, here on the blog.

We love you Deepika, We love you Jevesh, We miss you Amit.

July 9, 2009...no posting but not forgotten...

My apologies for not being able to post anything to celebrate Jevesh's 7 month birthday...I have been stuck out of town on work of late and was unable to do my monthly posting.

A quick update...Jevesh is doing well and so is mommy...There are always good days and less than good days, but there have certainly been more of the better days of late.

As most of you know, we are quickly approaching an anniversary not to be celebrated...Next week will mark one year since we lost a wonderful man, friend, brother, uncle, husband, ...and he would have been the most loving wonderful father...I pray he is looking down on Jevesh as his guardian angel.

I am helping Deepika work on a rememberance for next week. We would like to do a celebration of life...remembering all the good memories we have of Amit and celebrating Jevesh's 8 month birthday...I will post more details as the plans are made.

I will also be posting a video of some of the most recent pics and video I had a chance to snap/shoot while briefly making it back to Chico.

In the meantime, please, as always, keep Deepika, Jevesh, and Amit in your thoughts and prayers.