Bittersweet

I had a truely bittersweet moment on Thursday 4/7/11. Terry and I went to Elon University for the 2011 Convocation of Honors to listen to Brian Williams and a panel of 5 experts discuss the theme "We Can Be Better". The audience was comprised of Elon students who had acheived honors, parents of those students, alumni, and alumni parents. Various comments and statements from the panel directed at the students regarding their futures made me think back to both Mark and Matt's days at school and the hopes and dreams we have for them and their opportunity to effect the world. The discussion was enjoyable and something different for Terry and I to do.

The "moment" came when we stopped in Mosely Center to use the facillities and I was standing by a column outside of McKinnon Hall waiting for Terry and a flood of memories came back. It was 2000 and Matt, Terry, and I were going from room to room, filling in forms, standing in lines, listening to speakers, and collecting information and brochures. It was the day that our oldest son was officially entering college. We were all excited, afraid, happy, frustrated, but I think most of all proud. All in all at the time, it was what I think most parents and their kids think of as a typical harried day.

I remarked to Terry that it's amazing what your mind can store. I have never thought about that day since it happened, didn't even know I had the memory. Yet standing there in what I think might have been the same spot I had stood in 11 years ago brought it all rushing back in vivid detail. It was a brief glimpse back into the past. It's been rattling around in my head ever since. It was both a good memory and a tough memory. It made me smile inside. It made me glad that Matt had the opportunity to go to Elon. It was good to relive it even if only for a moment.

We Did It!

I am so excited to let you all know that the Matthew John Ford Memorial Endowment at Elon has reached $25,000! It is now a fully funded and permanent scholarship. The first recipient of the scholarship will be selected for the start of the next school year! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the fund. You have made Matt's memory at Elon permanent!

We also don't have to stop here. As of now the Scholarship is dedicated to helping students fund an Elon Experience. An Elon Experience includes areas of Leadership Development, Service Learning, Internships, Study Abroad and Student Undergraduate Research. If we continue to raise money for the Scholarship we could very well reach $50,000, thus making the fund an educational scholarship. This would be gifted to students to help pay for their tuition.

If you have any questions regarding the fund, feel free to reach out to me or anyone at the Elon Office of University Advancement. As always, we miss you & love you Matt!

 I dont blog.  I dont face book or "communicate" as Matt would put it.  I don do what i should in terms if normal communication.  MAtt often requested to come to my house to make sure tht what I did have to "plug in" was "plugged in."

I miss Matt so much.

I dont blog or facebook or do much that would be normally defined by Matt as "normal commnuincation."  I dont even come here as often as i should.   

Matthew John Ford Memorial Endowment

I am excited to announce that there has been a scholarship created at Elon University in Matt's memory. The Matthew John Ford Memorial Endowment will help students who are majoring in computer sciences and who are pursuing qualified Elon Experiences opportunities. Southland Electrical Supply was generous enough to create an initial scholarship for Matt, however this scholarship was limited to 10 years. After speaking with Southland, their gift has now been combined with the endowed Scholarship along with any other gifts given in Matt's memory. Within the next 5 years, we have set the goal to make the Matthew John Ford Memorial Scholarship an endowed fund (meaning permanent). This way Matt's memory at Elon will live on forever. For all of us who had the opportunity to get to know Matt thanks to Elon, I hope that you can give in his memory. Any amount donated is a valued gift and is 100% tax deductible. When making a gift make sure to it is directed to "Matthew John Ford Memorial Endowment." Gifts can be sent to:

Jamie M. Killorin
Director of Gift Planning
Office of University Advancement
Elon University
2600 Campus Box
Elon, NC 27244

Questions can also be directed to Jamie Killorin at (336) 278.7454 or jkillorin2@elon.edu

Thank you! We miss you Matt!

Moving Day

We helped Mary move over the past weekend. It caused me to reflect on all of the moves I've been involved with in my lifetime. I've moved 14 times in my life so far and expect at least a couple more. Moving day evokes a lot of different emotions. Each time can be exciting, frightening, sad, happy, fun, maddening, all wrapped into one. My first big move was when our family moved from Pittsburgh to Fairfax, VA when I was in the 6th grade. I hated my parents for it at the time but really liked living in Virginia for the 3 and half years that we were there. I didn't want to leave when we went back to Pittsburgh when I was in the 9th grade. The next big move for me was leaving Pittsburgh (again) to go to Penn State. I oculdn't wait to leave Pittsburgh that time, but when I got to Penn State I was scared to death. That didn't last long and I met people that will forever be a part of my life there most notibly Terry. Leaving Penn State was also a biggy because Terry was still there and I went to, you guessed it, Pittsburgh. We got married and Terry moved to Pittsburgh with me. Didn't stay too long this time, it was off to Columbus, Ohio to start a new life and a family. Eventually my sister came there to start her family and even later my brother and his new family. I think the hardest move for me personally was leaving Columbus. My kids grew up with my sister's kids- we lived a couple of blocks from each other. From there we went to NJ. Terry, Matt, and Mark hated me for it but by the time we left there they didn't want to go. We settled here in Clemmons for a long time now. Moving took on a whole new meaning. I still remember the day that we took Matt to Elon. That picture of him, Mark, and me is one of my favorites. He was so anxious to be free. I was so glad (and sad) for him to be free. We helped him move a few times during his college life-those experiences were not some of my fondest memories. The kid didn't like to pack things into boxes you just moved them from one place to a vehicle to another place! Moving Mark to App State was easy. Just had to fill the back of his and my Jeep with mostly newly aquired loot and unload at the dorm. I say it was easy but that was another very hard move for me - to have Mark leave meant no more special time with him, me, and Terry - wrestling on the couch, watching movies - good happy fun. One of my most memorable moves was when I helped Mark and his friend John move Mark's stuff out of a house up in Boone into the house that Matt bought up in Boone. Mark had an awful lot of stuff by then and it was kind of cold and rainy but I still remember the fun I had driving up and back in the truck with them - they were middle and high school friends. Luckily I was spared the final move from college for both Matt and Mark. I know they didnt want me to see all of the stuff they had accumulated and were trashing - especially Mark who rented an industrial dumpster to clean out the house that Matt owned in Boone when he was done with school. Matt asked me to help him move a sectional sofa into his 3rd floor walk up in Greensboro. We went to Highpoint to get it. I knew it was going to be interesting when we pulled up to the house where it was being stored in the carport. It seemed to be ok but had a hell of a lot of pet hair on in. No matter. So I haven't been involved in too much moving except to help unload what Mark did bring back from college to his new house in Winston. That was pretty easy as far as moves go.

The beginning

Many of you know Matt as a teenager, in highschool, in college, as a man. I've known him from the beginning. This may be graphic, but I feel it important to tell the story. During my pregnancy I had no problems. Ten weeks before I was due I broke water. We went to the hospital and I was on total bed rest. I held on for 2 more weeks, and called Greg and said come now. He had heard that a few times before, so he took the time to shower and shave. I heard the screaming for Jesus from other mothers and thought what in hell am I instore for. Greg finally got there and we played backgammon. Then they checked me again and said it's time. I thought well this was fairly easy. Even though Matt wanted to start life, he suddenly decided he wasn't all that sure about it. I suddenly found that giving birth wasn't all that easy. 20 people rushed the room cause it was a preemie birth. When he finally came out they laid him on my belly. I reached for him and they said don't touch him. They took him from me and whisked him from the room. I was scared to death. After an hour we still hadn't heard anything. I asked Greg to check on him. He was born 8 weeks early, in 1982. At that time they told me he may be slow...mentally challenged. I refused to believe that. Even though that parenting magazine said your child should be doing this at 3 months or that at 6 months. They had me paranoid. Fast forward. Once Matt could speak, it was CONSTANT QUESTIONS. Mostly "how" and the insistent "but" and "why". I tried my best to answer his questions or to guide him to find the answers once the questions got to be out of my realm of knowledge. I knew at age 2 Matt was not slow, but quite the opposite... He had already figured out how the locks on the door worked. A neighbor showed up with him at 6am, said he was playing on their swingset. After drilling him over an over not to touch any electrical outlets he said "Look mom if I only touch this part it won't hurt me". Wow and this is only the beginning.