Thom Stecher and Associates is dedicated to assisting schools, educators and students in achieving their highest level of potential. We strive to foster open relationships where the sharing of ideas, philosophy, knowledge, beliefs, values and passion is channeled into creating constructive solutions. We aim to build healthy communities where we grow as instruments for positive change.
My life has been interrupted by God.
I was not ready. I had plans, things I still wanted to do. Although sometimes very challenging, our life was predictable. Medicine, seizures, breathing treatment, percussion, diaper change, oxygen, tube feed, repeat.
Then the pattern stops. It could be surgery, or an accident. For us, it was the death of our angelic special needs daughter Ashley. Everything is changed.
For those of us who have lost loved ones, we have learned that the simple gifts of life are sacred moments. Each day is a gift. Saying I love you in the morning, in the evening, often throughout the day. Appreciating every act of kindness, every kind word.
These sacred moments are the miracles of life.
Nothing could stop you dying, even though you had stopped the process so many times before. Even now, months later, I still have moments when I think you will return.
In your final moments here on earth, you knew we were with you. Through the painful changes your body was going through, your spirit still shined brightly. I looked deeply into your brown eyes and knew you were in another world.
I feel your love surround me. Yesterday we were in one of your favorite parks. The one with the two and half mile boardwalk where I used to push your wheelchair.
This time I had nothing to push. I was a bit lost, not being able to hold onto you. I had to find another way of walking, a new way of making my way through the world.
As I find a new way to walk without you, Mom and I see it. Pink flowers, throughout every curve and bend in the boardwalk we saw pink flowers, and we knew you were with us.
You are always with us.
Our daughter's unconditional love is everywhere. It speaks to me with every heartbeat.
I feel a strange gratitude, not happiness, but a warmth that Ashley is not with me physically, she is in me spiritually.
When I pray, I am often very quiet. I breathe in unconditional love. Unconditional love is my understanding of what many referred to as God. There are times each day, when I am alone in contemplation and reflection, and I know God is with me. I also know God is with me when I walk my favorite nature trail, swim at the YMCA, and doing my daily yoga. God is also with me when I plan my masters classes, when I talk with my workmates, and when I greet strangers with a clear hello. God is in my thoughts, in my feelings, and in my actions. My prayer and contemplation with God is unceasing.
God is with me when I see beauty and when I see ugly. God is with me when I hear pleasant and when I hear static. God is with me when I think loving thoughts and when I think fearful thoughts. God is with me in sorrow and in joy.
God is with me.
God is.
Our world is facing significant challenges; war, hatred, climate change, and the lack of basic respect and dialogue skills. Our worldwide challenges ask us for worldwide solutions. Our interconnected humanity must become aware of how we think and act. Do we treat everyone, yes, everyone, with dignity and respect?
Education has always been the primary tool of transformation. We must see beyond the 3R's of reading, writing, and arithmetic. We must focus on the 3R's of respect, responsibility, and healthy relationships. We must share and celebrate our common core values.
We can begin with kindness, caring, and compassion. If you can't do that, at least do no harm.
Spirituality is an awareness of the sacredness of all life and an intimate relationship with an unconditional loving Higher Power.
When we experience the loss of a loved one, we are invited to be intensely engaged in the experience of the spiritual. Our relationship with our loved one and with the spiritual moves to a new, unique, and mystical experience. There is a daily communion that is transformational.
Our awareness of an unconditional loving Higher Power brings a sense of peace and connection with our loved one and with our higher self. We can bear the excruciatingly bittersweet pain of loss, knowing our loved one is transmitting unconditional love to us with every breath we take.
There is unconditional love in every breath.
Our lives can change in the blink of an eye. We have very little control over the challenges of life. We have complete control over how we respond to those same challenges. It is our response, our inner consciousness, that brings us joy or sorrow.
All the great stories have brought the same message, whether Shakespeare or George Lucas, the hero transforms their inner landscape. We are transformed by the challenge, or what is revealed by the challenge.
When we are transformed by challenge, we access our spiritual, social, emotional skills of resilience, empathy, compassion, courage, and love. Always love. Change and loss can still knock us out, but we get up quickly with each fall. With each fall, we rise, a little wiser, a little stronger. As life progresses, we gain more integrity and humility. Our faith in the meaning of life strengthens.
Our array of spiritual, social, and emotional tools expands. Meditation works, prayer works, therapy works, nature works, support groups work, art works, movement works, music works, stories work, science works, faith works, friendship works, love works.
Love fully.
