The memorial service for Carina will be at Callahan-Edfast on Friday, March 12, at 1:00 PM.
In lieu of flowers, we ask that you donate to:
NARSAD, The Brain and Behavior Research Fund
60 Cutter Mill Road, Suite 404
Great Neck, New York 11021
Please specify that the donation is being made in memory of Carina D'Andrea so that we may send you a thank you note, and that the money is earmarked for Bipolar Research.
You may donate online at http://www.narsad.org/
Click the donation button at the top left of the page and choose "Memorial Donation" on the resulting form. There you can specify Carina's name and that the money be used for Bipolar Research.
If you wish to send a check to the above address, the online donation page allows you to print a donation form to accompany your check.
Donation envelopes will also be available at the memorial service.
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Thanks to the wonderful people at Callahan-Edfast, Cheryl got to hold Joseph today. Carina would have wanted Mom to see him; to be proud. I will post a picture in the next day or so if the consensus among my readers is that it's not weird or morbid to do so. We don't think so, but it's up to you. By the way, he was a beautiful baby.
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Nearly ten years ago, we brought our daughter to Durango to attend Fort Lewis College. We knew that no matter what, life would never be the same--for her or for us. All of you who have helped your children leave the nest know what I'm talking about. When it's time, when you've taken them as far as you can, it's time for them to strike out on their own and, as the song says, make their own mistakes.
Ever since, this song has reminded me of that day. It has always made me cry. Not necessarily from sadness, but from the joy that I knew she would derive from life's journeys.
As Carina embarks on her next journey, the lyrics are as appropriate to me today as they were years ago.