An Emotional Week

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your Friday. It has been the strangest weather in SLC. Rain, 80 degree temperatures, SNOW and now a freezing cold sunny day...all in one week. Could Al "give-me-a-break" Gore be right???

As I am sure most of you know, our dear friend Rich Lloyd lost his 8-month battle with brain cancer this week. He was a vibrant, brilliant, talented 35-year old father of three. It is just hard to believe that he did not make it.

We went to his funeral and viewing and eventhough my eyes still ache from the all the crying, I am so touched by what an amazing influence he had on so many people. His family came up with a slogan called "Live Rich" and had it printed on wristbands and t-shirts. It was the perfect motto for the type of life Rich had and the type of life that Rich encouraged all of us to seek. The family gave out audio CDs with some of Rich's amazing piano performances and also a quick audio of Rich talking about what it means to "live Rich."

I know that we are all in different places in our own lives, but I would challenge each of this to figure out a way to incorporate this slogan into our own lives. Treat each day like the gift that it is and try be the type of person that is an influence for good. In the last 8-months, it has been so incredible to witness Rich live his life this way--even in the midst of his greatest trial. He has touched thousands of lives. I guess that his blog has had over 100,000 hits. Pretty remarkable. I cannot help but ask myself, in the past 8 months, have I been an influence for good? I realize that I can't reach 100,000+ but I can do something. We all can.

We each have the capacity to be a great.

Romney wrote a really touching tribute to Rich on their family's blog. One brief part I would love to share with you. He wrote: Rich will always be an inspiration to me. His infectious charisma, integrity, and passion for what he loves teach us to give everything we have in all that we do. I’m hopeful that because of the impact Rich has had on each of us, we will all have more faith, more hands-on commitment to our families, friends, and beliefs, more outward compassion for others in their suffering, and a stronger desire to live each day to its fullest and make any changes in our lives that Rich and Marianne have inspired us to make.

I thought that was really a nice challenge. If you are interested in reading a little more about our friend, his blog address is:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/richlloyd

Anyway, as you can see, I am still very emotional about this. I hope you don't mind my rambling thoughts.

I sure love you all. It is Friday so hooray! Savanna and Steve, please know that we have been very mindful of you both during this week. I am sure that you are feeling all kinds of emotion. Just know that we have all the confidence in the world in you both. I am sure that things will end up better than you could ever have dreamed for yourselves.

Please everyone, give yourselves a hug from me. Kara and Christian don't forget to come up for air!!

Have a great day!

I love you!
Alecia