"Levi Day"

We set aside yesterday, December 23, as "Levi day" (Carissa's idea for what we hope will be a new yearly tradition) The idea is to "put margins on our grieving." Typically, the holidays can be brutal; like swing dancing through a minefield. Certain sights, sounds, tastes and smells trigger memories that hijack the emotions and can unleash torrential waterworks at any moment without warning. Favorite foods Levi loved, decorations and ornaments that have been out of sight, out of mind for a year, songs and holiday movies we shared as a family, all abound to cook our collective goose. By dedicating one whole day solely to grieving, our hope is to allow ample time for sorrowing without restraint, thereby putting set bounds to it. No. It doesn't work perfectly, but it does help (unfortunately, the stomach flu struck; took a chunk of our focus and soured some of our plans). As part of our Levi-day, we watched the video of Danika and Jared's wedding. She had begged her little brother to play three piano pieces for the processional, and a violin accompaniment for the unity candle ceremony. The highlight, by a mile, is his dynamic, fluid rendering of the theme from "Downton Abbey." I had forgotten what a masterful job he did, and how handsome and manly he looked doing it at only seventeen. I loved listening to my son many, many hours upstairs in his room on violin and cello (my personal favorite), and teaching himself guitar, mandolin and saxophone. Piano was no longer his main instrument, and this day meant such a great deal to his sister, so he put hours of practice into that piece. The bride and the bride's mom had my full attention at the time, so I would have missed this amazing slice of my son's life, if not for the magic of video recording. Trying now to figure out how we can download this video to Facebook for all our friends.