Dear Adam...I took a moment yesterday to think about how people in our town helped us through the haze...with your passing...writing this public note made me cry, of course, but it also made me feel like I was giving back, in my own way...to acknowledge the goodness of people around us...and also...to encourage those who read this blog...to continue to encourage us...to continue with those "pushes" that we truly need. Sometimes we suffer more now than before...when something as tragic and sudden as this occurs...the support initially is tremendous...sometimes people have latent responses and their sadness is even greater months later...and we're at that point...if people offered their support before and we shunned away...it might have been we didn't need it at that time...but times are different for each of us...there's been no "steady" flow of anything...forward or backward...sometimes we see ourselves as blank canvases...void of color....absence of design...our family portrait...our "work of art" was forever altered with your loss...and it remains incredibly difficult to reconstruct...and it'll never look, feel or be the same...
I wish...I wish ...I wish...for only this...that continued concern be projected at Jordan now...to help him through this haze...I prayed extra hard last night...and again, Adam, you came into my dreams...and you were there with Jordan...I could see you as I always had for 22 yrs. The two of you together...no brothers loved each other like you did...
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Dear Editor,

On February 20th, 2010, our lives changed forever for with that date is when our son died tragically. It was a parent’s worst nightmare unfolding before us and had we not had such tremendous support from the small community of Jim Thorpe, I cannot even imagine how we could have made it through that time period. From the moment the town’s people heard our saddening news, there were knocks on our door, phone calls, baked goods and foods prepared, and errands ran for us. People filtered through our home in a constant flow to give us support and guide us the best that they could. One thousand people stood in line for hours at Adam’s viewing to offer condolences. Our church was so full for his funeral mass there wasn’t an empty seat available. The local churches held prayer groups to pray for our family, my parent’s church rallied together to make food for Adam’s funeral luncheon, and our own church gave support beyond belief. People told us strangers who heard of our loss dropped food items off for the funeral meal at the church. The list of those who donated runs on and on. Ted and I were in a fog for the first month after Adam’s passing. We reflect now on how wonderful the town has been and also recognize support received from other neighboring communities. Our son Adam loved this town, tremendously, we all did. We all grew up here as natives and we all knew Jim Thorpe had something special. An appeal that is unique and comprised of people who genuinely care, Jim Thorpe has always held those remarkable characteristics. People focused on how wonderful our son was and how kind they all were to our family. No one dwelled on how Adam passed, instead they focused on how he lived and how we, his family was doing. Ted and I and Jordan will be forever grateful for all the kindness, love and generosity that the amazing people of Jim Thorpe provided to us doing this sad time. Adam would often tell us he wouldn’t have wanted to grow up or live anywhere else. And we agree. Again, this letter is to simply recognize a town’s efforts to support a family of their “own”. We are so proud to say we live in Jim Thorpe and again, we wish to extend our deepest gratitude and thanks to all of you, who prayed with us, guided us, stood beside us or thought about our family during our sadness. We are forever grateful.