Tommy’s 15th birthday was four days after he died. Renee Steiner called, asking if Hickory Hill could put together a celebration. She asked what his favorite color was - and I said red. I called her back and told her it was actually purple since he was little, but he’d changed it to red in middle school because purple was too much of a little kid thing. So Renee got 500 purple balloons for a release in the field at Hickory Hill at Tommy’s celebration, on August 9, 2017. All the kids wrote notes to Tommy and attached the notes to their balloons, and the release is the video you see on the home page of this website. The OPHS Men’s Varsity Swim & Diving Team had a drone that captured the release on video, and they posted it to Facebook Live. Mr. Kidney / Dennis grew up in a beautiful little town called Sherburne, on the other side of the Catskills… about 200 miles away. “The Guys” he went to high school with in Sherburne were all able to watch the balloon release on Facebook. The morning after the balloon release, his friend Jim went to let the dog out, and two balloons from Tommy’s celebration were hanging in a tree in his driveway. Acres and acres of state lands on one side of the house, and farm land on the other side of the house… one balloon had popped during the trip, and the other carried it to Jim’s house. He brought us the balloon to the wake, and we still have it.

While the kids were growing up, and still today, we spend a week in Marblehead, MA with family. That’s Tommy’s other Happy Place… We took a summer off after he died, as none of us could bear the thought of going without him. When we finally went back, we went down to our favorite spot: “The Rocks” - where the kids jump off giant rock formations into the Atlantic. As we descended the stairs to get to the Rocks, Jack pointed over to the rocky beach, and exclaimed, “Is that a purple balloon?!?!” Sure enough, there was a purple balloon washed up on the shore, where the kids would swim to get out of the ocean after jumping off the rocks.

Mary was driving to Pittsburgh for a concert with friends, and while going 60 mph down Interstate 90, a purple balloon flew out of nowhere and bounced off their windshield.

We see purple things frequently, where it’s not supposed to be… gentle winks from Tommy to get us through another day.

Another fun one? Mr. Kidney / Dennis has been a golf fanatic since he was 7 (and he’s old), and had never gotten a hole in one. He plays in the Byrd House Golf League every week… and on Tommy’s birthday in 2018, we were having a birthday party for him up at Hickory Hill, and of course… it was on golf league night. He got his first (and only) hole in one… Golf league grown men in tears, all signed the flag from the hole, and we have it in a box frame. Heck of a gift from TK.

If you have any Tommy stories pictures or videos, PLEASE SHARE! We’d always love to hear from you!