Steven Helmer Publications

My dad, Art Helmer, passed away on June 6. We held off on memorial services until the end of the month (he was cremated) to allow people to make travel arrangements if needed and because he insisted we not cancel any of our plans we had already set (this included my wife flying out east to see her family and my brother attending a music festival). Considering we have already been coping with his death for about three weeks, I wasn't really expecting the funeral to be as emotional as it wound up being (I blame the song "Amazing Grace"). But, between the service at the funeral home and the military service at the gravesite, it wound up being an emotionally exhausting day. I was out cold the second I got to bed last night. Today, of course, is now a start of a new chapter in all our lives without him and making an effort to fill the void he left behind. My oldest daughter and I already have made plans to help out with the Badger Honor Flight this fall as a way of honorin...

Last night, I got a cup of water to drink while watching a movie with my wife. The cup had a lid (too keep the cats out of it) and I needed a straw to drink it. I reached into the box of straws and pulled out a pink one. I immediately returned it to the box. This wasn't because I necessarily cared about what color the straw was (it's just going in the garbage anyway). It was because my youngest daughter loves the color pink and I wanted to leave it in the box for her. As I sat down, I realized it was one of those things us parents do for our kids that normally would go unnoticed.