Last year for Easter weekend, we not only recognized the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also to experience the passing of my brother. One year later, Easter falls under a different landmark in Rayson's life... April 20th, 2014 would have marked his 32nd birthday.
There's never been a birthday party thrown for school friends, at least not to my recollection. Usually it would be a more casual affair with immediate family, with the occasional extended-family dinner, or inviting a friend or two. There might have been a period where we never even celebrated at all, as our family tended to be more low-key.
Around his middle and high school years, Rayson would hold a 2-on-2 birthday basketball game in our backyard with our cousin Patrick and our childhood friend Tommy. We would alternate team players each year, and I swear, each year whoever was on his team would win. He sure loved to play bball.
There were also several years where we would have a nice meal at a steakhouse as a family. Ahhh, nothing better than celebrating with red meat in your belly!
2011 was one of those extended family birthday celebrations, held at the Shay house. Like the motto for the American Cancer Society, it's all about celebrating birthdays, and one thing that the cancer did was bring our family closer together during one of the roughest stages in his life.
Over the years I've collaborated with my cousin Patrick to get him gaming consoles like a Nintendo Gamecube and later a Wii (though in hindsight probably should have switched it up and gotten him an X-Box instead), and a digital camera during the time I worked at Ritz Camera.
He hated Chinese cakes. You know, the ones with fruit and taro and stuff. Blech! So on his 25th birthday, I surprised him with a cake with a childhood photo of him on it. Afterwards, that thing sat in our fridge for days, as it took forever to finish since we just celebrated amongst the immediate family (and cousin Patrick). Should have bought a smaller cake...
This will be the 2nd year commemorating his birthday without him here. Still not sure if we'll be doing anything in particular, since the man-of-the-hour is no longer present. Last year I lit a candle in his honor, letting it burn til the end of the day, something I plan to repeat that day as well. And as a birthday gift, I will be donating to the organization Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure. If you wish to do either of these, I think that would be a great tribute to someone we care about.
Happy birthday Rayson. On a date that has lots of negative connotations to it -potheads, Hitler's birthday, the Columbine shootings - for those that love him, it stands for God's blessing of having him in our lives.
There's never been a birthday party thrown for school friends, at least not to my recollection. Usually it would be a more casual affair with immediate family, with the occasional extended-family dinner, or inviting a friend or two. There might have been a period where we never even celebrated at all, as our family tended to be more low-key.
Around his middle and high school years, Rayson would hold a 2-on-2 birthday basketball game in our backyard with our cousin Patrick and our childhood friend Tommy. We would alternate team players each year, and I swear, each year whoever was on his team would win. He sure loved to play bball.
There were also several years where we would have a nice meal at a steakhouse as a family. Ahhh, nothing better than celebrating with red meat in your belly!
2011 was one of those extended family birthday celebrations, held at the Shay house. Like the motto for the American Cancer Society, it's all about celebrating birthdays, and one thing that the cancer did was bring our family closer together during one of the roughest stages in his life.
Over the years I've collaborated with my cousin Patrick to get him gaming consoles like a Nintendo Gamecube and later a Wii (though in hindsight probably should have switched it up and gotten him an X-Box instead), and a digital camera during the time I worked at Ritz Camera.
He hated Chinese cakes. You know, the ones with fruit and taro and stuff. Blech! So on his 25th birthday, I surprised him with a cake with a childhood photo of him on it. Afterwards, that thing sat in our fridge for days, as it took forever to finish since we just celebrated amongst the immediate family (and cousin Patrick). Should have bought a smaller cake...
This will be the 2nd year commemorating his birthday without him here. Still not sure if we'll be doing anything in particular, since the man-of-the-hour is no longer present. Last year I lit a candle in his honor, letting it burn til the end of the day, something I plan to repeat that day as well. And as a birthday gift, I will be donating to the organization Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure. If you wish to do either of these, I think that would be a great tribute to someone we care about.
Happy birthday Rayson. On a date that has lots of negative connotations to it -potheads, Hitler's birthday, the Columbine shootings - for those that love him, it stands for God's blessing of having him in our lives.