Owen's Celebration of Life
A Celebration of Life was held for Owen on Saturday, August 8th at the Denver Athletic Club Billard Room. Both of our children went to daycare, preschool, and summer camp at the DAC. It’s a prominent experience in their lives and has been a second home for our family over the years.
Thank You From the McMahon Family
We can't thank you all enough for your love and support. We had over 100 friends and family join us for Owen's Celebration of Life. We laughed, we cried, and we had an amazing party to celebrate Owen. We are so incredibly grateful for all of you.
Laurel created the playlist for Owen's Celebration of Life based on music they shared and Owen's Spotify playlists. Much of Owen's music was not exactly appropriate for the occasion. That said, Laurel put together several hours of music to honor Owen.
Slideshow *Coming Soon*
We have so many pictures from a lifetime with Owen. Ordinary moments, holidays with family and friends, vacations, sports, big and small milestones, we tried to capture it all. We shared a few hundred of our favorite photos at his Celebration of Life.
Tracy's Toast to Owen
Thank you all so much for coming. You’ll never know how much it means to us to see you all here today to celebrate Owen.
He would have hated this. He would have put it in the same bucket as me making him go to Cotillion. Something you should probably just do, even if you don’t want to. But at least he could Fox Trot.
I knew I was going after Dan so I wanted to put some thoughts together in case I blacked out trying to get through this, which is more likely than not.
There is so much I want to say about Owen. Dan suggested I start at the beginning.
We were so excited when we learned we were pregnant. A few days later we thought we lost him. And then countless times after that. I fought so hard to keep him. And when he was born, three weeks early, facing the wrong direction, he almost took us both out.
I’m starting to think that our time with him was all stolen time and I’m thankful for all of it.
Maybe he knew he didn’t have much time. Maybe that’s why he burned so hot and lived a little wild.
When he came home to live with us, I was so worried about him. I was terrified that we were going to lose him. I checked on him all the time. I watched him sleep. He kept telling me, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to die”.
And then he did.
He died. And he left me and everyone else in a world we no longer recognize. A world without Owen.
Grief feels like walking around in shoes that are just a little too small. Not so small that you can't wear them. At first, you think, "This isn't so bad. I can do this." But as the day goes on, they become more and more uncomfortable. You're left blistered and bruised, but you keep walking.
Maybe that's what grief is: being various degrees of uncomfortable for the rest of your life. Understanding that our time with each other is never guaranteed.
Knowing that the smiles you fake are the heaviest weight you carry. Knowing that our days here are limited,
As you might expect, I’ve been thinking a lot about love and grief and loving while grieving.
I don’t know what I believe. I don’t know what’s next for Owen. But I know that he was deeply loved. And if grief is an extension of love, I understand why this grief is so overwhelming that it takes my breath away.
I do know that wherever he is, he is safe. He’s not in pain, or lonely, or cold, or sad. I hope that he feels every baby snuggle, every sloppy toddler kiss, every pre-teen side hug, every taller than me bear hug, every bit of love that we poured into him over 21 years.
We miss his quick wit and his dark sense of humor. We miss how he was kind when it mattered most, how fiercely loyal he was, how he never refused a hug. We miss his old soul. We miss that he was smarter than all of us. We miss how much fun he was to be around.
We miss every bit of him.
So cheers to Owen, wherever you are, know that you were, and always will be the best of us.
Pictures From the Celebration
