i’m continuously amazed by how many people she is touching, 2 months later. it’s crazy. i’m so proud to be her sister.

tuesday night Purcell Marian hosted “hoops for hope,” a benefit for cancer research.  they decided to donate money to coach’s mom and ali, who both lost the battle to cancer. since we have the book fair coming up, i decided to take ali’s share and donate books back to the PM library. her legacy will live on forever in all the books we pretended loved to read in high school. the news was there to cover the event, you can watch the CLIP on their website. (the headline is a little harsh. yuck.)

i was given a heads up that channel 5 was going to call me for an interview. i figured i could answer a couple questions over the phone, no big deal. when the reporter called me and said she was heading to my house for an on camera interview i got a weeee bit nervous. here’s the thing. blogging is completely different than on the spot answering questions…ON TV. many might not realize, but it takes me hours to blog. even when i’m writing about clients, i write, delete, write, delete. i never ever stick with what comes out first. when talking about ali, my emotions are unpredictable. sometimes i can completely detach myself and talk about the whole situation as if she’s a random person. other times, i can’t say her name without bawling. britt and i decided it also depends on the person we are talking to. if it’s someone we’ve known forever and really knew ali, emotion overload. it’s so strange. grieving is very complicated.

there was one thing i knew for sure, the reporter would hit a heart string too quick and i’d be done. blotchy red face, ugly cry on tv. not cool. and not to mention i would probably say something really dumb. “i’m melanie paaace?” (ron burgundy style from anchor man. one of ali’s favs) once it’s out there, i can’t delete it. i’m totally not articulate, but i still have to think about things i say. no joke, i even write my fb statuses at least 3 times before posting. so i passed the torch to mom. 🙂 it’s only fair someone else represents our family for once anyway! i’m the one blogging, people always hear what i have to say. ben tried to dodge his debut, but they came to his house. ha! they did a wonderful job. what they said was perfect. i would have had to have 12 takes and mass editing to not sound like a blubbering fool. i’m sure ali was present and holding their hands as they fought the tears.

peace. melanie.