As we bid farewell...

Today was a very bittersweet day for the Alward family. Our son gave his two week notice at work, and Ken was starting back at work with an early morning meeting. Ken told me that he and Jess approached each other from opposite ends of a hallway, meeting in the middle, as Ken was about to leave and Jess was just arriving. They both gave each other the manly greeting, a nod and smile, and proceeded on in opposite directions. It was kind of like a passing of the torch. While we will miss Jess so very, very much, we are so proud of him and his accomplishments and wish him all the best as he takes his leave and travels to New York state. Bon Voyage to an amazing young man! Just having had you here to help us and share your strength...well, thank you so much!

While we were not able to attend Ken's benefit on Saturday, Jess did attend and even got up in front of the crowd and gave an off- the- cuff "thank you" to everyone for attending. Ken was so hoping to be there, but as it turns out, he had a little bit of "out of the blue" nausea that laid him pretty low that day. (It's not like I wanted to tell him I told you so, but...). Thank you to everyone involved with Saturday's event. It still blows our minds to realize that so many people have Ken's back!!! We do NOT take it for granted! We are so grateful to y'all.

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you moms out there. I can only hope that your gift was as special as mine-our son has beaten a stutter that has plagued him his entire life! Just knowing that so many options are open to him now...wow! Best gift EVER!!

I am done rambling (for now), and will leave you with a picture of our Master of Ceremonies (Kurt Brasch) and Jess from Saturday night. Wonderful picture, right?

P.S.  Ken ATE a container of diced peaches today. The whole cup. Then he did some exercises with hand weights! Zowee!!  Moving forward every day...

Paula