Journal entry by Staci Cummins —
Today would have been Ted’s 29th—his golden—birthday. We honor Ted’s memory and the life he lived, both before and after his diagnosis. Ted was fun, compassionate, thoughtful, and tough. He loved sports, board games, teaching, and junk food. More than anything, he loved his family and friends and tried to live a life in service of others. Ted was an amazing son, brother, uncle, and friend, and we miss him every day.
As a family, we spent the day getting matching tattoos of the MN Twins “TC” logo to honor Ted’s love of the Twins (and his initials). We followed that up by having dinner at our favorite wing place—the last time we were all there was with Ted (he tried to eat the hottest wings, which was as a terrible idea).
We hope Ted’s memory is a blessing for all his friends and family, especially today. We hope you celebrate him by doing some of his favorite things:
- Spending time with loved ones
- Watching/playing/generally thinking about sports, especially the Vikings or Twins
- Traveling
- Playing boardgames or video games
- Watching Psych or Harry Potter
- Reading, especially Fourth Wing or Manga
- Getting a tattoo
- Teaching (or supporting the teachers in your life)
- Going to a brewery
- Eating something vegan or pineapple or Takis
- Watching or reading anime
- Buying fun and unnecessary things (even better if it’s online shopping)
- Wearing fun socks
- Coaching or supporting Special Olympics
- Exchanging Pokémon cards