Last night after New Horizons disbanded, I went to say my final goodbye to my son-in-law, Jake Hailey. He left for the army this morning. I feel so much pride for this guy. He’s smart, caring, brave … the list goes on and on. For now, he’s leaving behind my daughter Meghan and their two girls. In the next 6 months he will be at 4 different bases until he finally arrives at Fort Bragg near the first of the year. Because of this, they decided Meg and the girls should stay here until the end of the next school year. I feel the loss myself, but more importantly, I feel my girls’ pain.

In trying to not make this all about me and my family, my heart just goes out to all of the military families out there. Probably several of you or your families have gone through something similar. My niece and her husband spent 3 of their married years on totally different naval bases. When they finally got stationed together in Guam, a year later he was deployed to Afghanistan. But none of this even compares to the possibility of these soldiers losing their lives. Unfortunately this hits home to so many. My uncle Paul died at 18 years old at Anzio in WWII. Carrie Cunningham’s brother, Ron, died in Viet Nam. I’m sure that there are other members who have gone through this as well.

My point is that when it doesn’t involve us I don’t feel we can truly appreciate the sacrifices these men make. That their families make. I’ve been guilty of this myself. With the hovering possibility of WWIII, I am not crazy about the fact that Jake’s entrance into the service is now. I’m sure thousands of families are in the same boat. So I’m just asking that when we are watching the news about Russia and the Ukraine that we not become desensitized. The Ukraine’s people and their soldiers are suffering. I feel like the US and other countries are walking on eggshells trying not to let WWIII happen but it may at some point happen.

Growing up I was always in Memorial Day parades and Veteran’s Day parades. I did not have a clue how important it was to remember what our men had been through. Now that this is up in my face, I understand. God, please be with the Ukraine’s soldiers and their families. Please be with our boys and their families. And selfishly I must add, please keep Jake safe.

Barbara Tomsello is the sister of Carrie Cunningham (clarinet). She has been in hospice for awhile now, and appears to not have much longer. Carrie would appreciate your prayers for a peaceful passing, and for comfort for the family as they stand by her during her final moments.

First of all, I would just like to thank anyone who took the time out to pray for my sister-in-law, Dianne. I’m a firm believer in prayer … even when the answer is “no”. She passed away 2 days ago, and I’m relieved that her exhaustion and struggling has ended. We are a family of believers so I know she is with Jesus.

Secondly, I’ve been reflecting on so many situations that I’ve seen fellow members in: the member that comes to play his or her instrument while their spouse or partner is sick or even in hospice, the member that finds out a family member died that day but still comes to practice, the member that may be struggling with cancer themselves, or maybe they’re having a physical problem that just makes it hard to play. The list goes on and on. We come to practice for a lot of reasons. We want to play, we want to learn, we want to somehow sound better as an individual and as a group. But often showing up is more than that. It may be just being around a lot of people because you are alone most of the time. It may be escaping temporarily all the things going wrong – sometimes practice is just a piece of normalcy.

I know for myself that I’m so focused on getting things right that I’m not sensitive to others. After all, most of us come to practice and no one is aware of what is going on. So, I’m going to throw out to us as members and teachers (and mostly myself) something to work on. To not get so frustrated with the little things. I’m going to make a concerted effort to give people a break(even myself a break). We don’t have to sound perfect, although it’s always good to try. I mean, that’s technically the goal. But sometimes there are more important things in life.

My sister-in-law, Dianne Kelly, has been hospitalized twice recently. It all began with COVID and pneumonia. She has now been in the hospital for a second time for around 3 weeks. It has seemed like every other day has been better and then the next, worse. Thursday night they finally put her on a ventilator to give her body rest and healing. Improvement is not happening. Her kidneys and liver are starting to shut down. And it goes without saying that her lungs are in bad shape.

I would just appreciate your prayers regarding this situation. This has been extremely stressful for my brother ,Larry, and their kids and grandkids. At the same time they have a lot of faith and realize that this is in God’s hands. Gratefully, he has been allowed to visit her on a regular basis.

I personally appreciate anyone taking the time out to pray for this piece of my family.

Marilyn Katzmark (violin)

Kathryn Weaver (violin) has a relative that is related to Lynette. She is requesting prayers for healing. At only 39 years old Lynnette has been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. She lives in Barberton and has 4 children between the ages of 8 and 12. She is depending on her faith to get her through this and the family would appreciate all of our prayers.