We could spend hours and hours writing about all the things we should be doing or wish we were doing, if things were different. But that doesn't change anything, and it just makes us more sad. It focuses us on all the things we've lost by losing Obie.
The day Obie was born was not the best day of Chris or Elizabeth's life. Obie was taken to the NICU right away, there were tubes everywhere, and they just wanted to get to the point where they could take him home and start their life. It wasn't the best day ever, but it was still a very special day. We met Obie, he held our fingers, he handled surgery like a champ, and we heard his cry for the first time.
Obie right after he was born.
After getting settled in the NICU on the day he was born.
His first birthday won't be the best day of our lives either, but it will still be a very special day. We haven't finalized our plans of what we will do day of, because much of it will depend on how we feel when we wake up that morning.
There are two things that we are definitely doing to celebrate and honor our Oberon this November. The first is we are going to re-run the Booster for Obie' Bees T-shirts. We honestly weren't planning to do a second round, but we've been asked by enough people that we thought it would be worthwhile. We've also added the new black T-shirt (for both men and women) design.
Birthday edition - Black Ts for Obie's Bees!
Sporting our Obie's Bees Ts from the first Booster.
Just like last time, all proceeds will go to some of Obie's favorite charities. Which brings us to the second thing we are doing to honor Oberon on his first birthday.
We've decided that every year to celebrate Oberon's birthday we will donate to a bee charity. While we love and will continue to support Obie's favorite charities, it feels right to us to do things a little differently for his birthday. This year, we've decided to support the Honeybee Conservancy. We liked that their website had helpful tips like how to plant a bee garden, to create a place for bees and other pollinators. We can't start a garden at our current home, but we look forward to someday having a safe haven for bees right where we live.
The two charities that the proceeds from Obie's Birthday Booster will go to are the Honeybee Conservancy and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.
If you would have bought Oberon something for his first birthday, we encourage you to consider a donation in his name and/or supporting his memory through Obie's Birthday Booster. That's how we plan to look at it for the rest of our lives. His birthday will come every year, and every year we will focus on him by honoring his memory and helping out his charities and his bees. We hope you do too.
*If the link doesn't work, type http://www.booster.com/obies-bees into your web browser.
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