Thankful Friday – Passover Edition

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Hey all! Hope those of you who are celebrating are having a happy Passover. Here at Hotel 618 (our house) we were so happy to have been able to host wonderful family and friends, including but not limited to Bubby Sandy. Our sedarim went until around 2am, full of fun, divrei Torah, and plenty of laughs. Thank you to everyone for all of their hard work in making it possible, most notably Estee, and Chavi, the best -LER who has ever -LERed.

Earlier this week was April 24, 2024, the English anniversary of Mer’s passing – the 6th one. Thank you to those who reached out; I will share my thoughts on the blog when we hit the Hebrew anniversary in a few weeks as it is just too hard to do it twice. Certainly, Mer was missed this holiday as she always is, but was regularly on our minds and her name on our lips, when, e.g., we served rainbow cookies at the Passover meals, or when I sang the song of the Haggadah remembering how she used to sing them.

Anyway, here are our thankfuls!

Mom/Bubby Sandy

  1. For my wonderful family who takes such good care of me.

Estee

  1. For a fun time at beat the bomb (see pictures above!)

Dovid

  1. for a fun islander game

Chavi

  1. for a nice yom tov with friends and family

Dina

  1. for an amazing break

Sheva

  1. for playing with my cousins

Scott

  1. thankful for brave penguins

Thankful Thursday

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Mom

  1. For my wonderful family who takes such good care of me

Estee

  1. Thankful for my new oven

Dovid

  1. For Pesach break

Chavi

  1. For Pesach break
  2. To be home

Dina

  1. For my half day of school today

Sheva

  1. For my sleepover at Rosie

Scott

  1. For remembering the good times from Belle Harbor, and special people who have impacted the lives of the Farrell family, and so many others.

Thankful Thursday

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Mom

  1. thankful for my wonderful family who takes such good care of me

Estee

  1. for yummy hamenstaschen

Dovid

  1. For Purim coming

Chavi

  1. for good weather
  2. for BatBec

Dina

  1. for a good day off

Sheva

  1. Thankful for my שלח מנות

Scott

  1. thankful it is almost Purim, one of my favorite holidays.
  2. Thankful to those who observe Thankful Thursdays, in memory of Mer.

Thankful Friday

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Mom

  1. for my wonderful family who takes such good care of me

Estee

  1. for a fun trip to Bingo

Dovid

  1. for lots of help from tatty

Chavi

  1. for my best friends

Dina

  1. thankful for a good Jane Eyre presentation

Sheva

  1. Thankful for Dina’s Jane Eyre presentation (it was cool and I got to be the person to go to the next slide in the presentation)

Scott

  1. Thankful for mornings with mom and Janice, spent with mom enjoying decaf caramel macchiatos and candy bowls overflowing with chocolate.

Thankful Friday & Dad’s Yahrezeit

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Today is my father’s18th yahrezeit, the Hebrew anniversary of his passing. It seems like both a lifetime ago, and just a moment, and he is missed every single day. If you have a moment, please do a random act of kindness today in his memory. I know he is in a good place, and is advocating for all of us.

Thankful Fridays

Mom

  1. for my wonderful daughter in law Estee, for taking such good care of me, and for the chance to spend quality time with her yesterday and today.

Estee

  1. Thankful for awesome dad who takes such good care of everyone

Dovid

  1. thankful for people who keep tabs on me

Chavi

  1. for the amazing weather

Dina

  1. Thankful that I have awesome parents who buy me little bites

Sheva

  1. thankful for munchkins that mom and dad dropped off at school

Scott

  1. that achashverosh (sheva) is feeling better, and for getting so much time with her this week.

Thankful Monday

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Mom/Bubby

  1. Thankful for my family who takes such god care of me

Estee

  1. Thankful for marzipan rugelach

Dovid

  1. Thankful for the weekend

Chavi

  1. Thankful for every family member that was able to come and visit me

Dina

  1. Thankful for amazing fries at king of fries

Sheva

  1. Thankful for seeing Chavi
  2. Thankful for king of fries

Scott

  1. Thankful for meaningful time with Chavi and volunteering
  2. Thankful that Mer’s Rainbow Dash Pez was able to accompany Yitzy in – and out of – Gaza

Thankful Friday

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Mom/Bubby

  1. For my wonderful family!

Estee

  1. Thankful for daddy getting us yummy food from Tov U’Maitiv

Dovid

  1. Thankful to have survived finals

Chavi

  1. Thankful for Dovid coming!

Dina

  1. Thankful for a 93 on math

Sheva

  1. For going to SKA Basketball

Scott

  1. Thankful for Mitch B.

Toy Drive Recap and New Year’s Thankfuls

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I’m pleased to report that we had an amazing toy collection this year, with toys being sent to UPMC and delivered to Elmhurst hospital. Thank you to everyone who donated, and to DRS, BKNW, YINW and Avid Fitness who all collected toys for us to distribute to sick children for the holidays.

I’m hopeful that At The Top of My Lungs will continue to report amazing things in the coming year. In the interim, please keep those random acts of kindness going in Mer’s memory, and maybe share your thankfuls every once in a while!

I’m gonna call these New Year’s thankfuls, but in all honesty, they are the ones everyone gave me on Thursday and I didn’t post in a timely fashion. I’ll try and do better in 2024!

Mom/Bubby

  1. There is so much to be thankful for it is hard to choose!

Estee

  1. Thankful for spending this past weekend with friends

Dovid

  1. Thankful to be almost done with finals

Chavi

  1. Thankful for shabbos in Netanya with friends

Dina

  1. Thankful for the week being over

Sheva

  1. Thankful for going to Kolsave

Scott

  1. (actually from tonight) Thankful for a great trip to Brooklyn and the best New Year’s dinner ever!

Thankful Friday & Final Toy Drive Announcement

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Hey all! I’ll be delivering the toys next week to the hospital, so if anyone has any physical toys, clothing in good condition, baby supplies for me to drop off, please let me know and I can pick it up from you this weekend.

The links I shared for Elmhurst and UPMC Children’s Hospital are still good, probably year round, so they are good ways to get toys to sick kids in need; please note in the memo line that they are in memory of Meredith Farrell.

Hope everyone has a great last day of Chanukah, and thank you so much for one of the best toy drives we’ve ever had!!!

Thankful Friday

Mom/Bubby

  1. thankful for my wonderful family who takes such god care of me

Estee

  1. for all of the fun Chanukah activities

Dovid

  1. thankful for winter break coming soon

Chavi

  1. Thankful for Chanukah break

Dina

  1. thankful for my fantastic new hat

Sheva

  1. Thankful for a trip to Sloo Moo

Scott

  1. Thankful for a good checkup with mom at the doctor yesterday

Happy Chanukah/Procedure Update/Thankfuls/Toy Drive

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I’m happy to report that Mom’s procedure went well this week, and she is back at home. Thank you to the MANY people who reached out after seeing the blog earlier this week.

Last night we lit candles with my mom, in celebration of the first night of Chanukah, and stopped by the menorah lighting across the street in Cedarhurst Park. A great time was had by all.

We sent videos to Chavi in Israel, who also had a fun and inspiring evening. Our surprise Chanukah greeting to her as part of the Aish Gesher video (families sent 10 second Chanukah greetings to the school, and they compiled it into a secret video they showed to all the girls last night) was apparently a big hit with all of the viewers!

TOY/CLOTHING DRIVE

So that they are handy, please find the info about our holiday toy/clothing drive, which I shared previously. In the next week or two, I’ll likely be visiting Elmhurst to drop off the toys and other stuff.

If you would like to select toys off of UPMC’s list to be donated, please visit Shop for UPMC Oncology Children’s Hospital’s Gift List (myregistry.com) and the toys will be delivered directly to the hospital, to the hematology/oncology clinic which Meredith was affiliated with.

If you would like to select toys off of Elmhurst’s list to be donated, please visit 

WALMART:

https://www.walmart.com/registry/ER/1aaf3485-d25b-494d-a78f-5438771286d9

TARGET:

https://www.target.com/gift-registry/gift/childlifewinterwonderland2023

AMAZON:

https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/27PTJIUOC06JB

and the toys will be delivered directly to the hospital.

Elmhurst has also notified us that their patients and their families need everyday items such as diapers, baby wipes, pajamas, socks and sweatshirts, etc. which can be new or gently used (please be advised that the “gently used” exception does not apply to the first two items…).

In ALL instances, please indicate that the donation is in memory of Meredith Farrell.

If you have clothing or toys that you’d like to physically give to me, you can reach me at the contact information in the flyer, and I will make sure the toys/items get to the hospital(s).

FRIDAY THANKFULS

Mom/Bubby

  1. For my wonderful son, daughter in law, and grandchildren!

Estee

  1. for an amazing time at Aladdin on Broadway this week

Dovid

  1. for the calm before finals

Chavi

  1. for a fun Chagiga in sem

Dina

  1. for a 98 on Chumash

Sheva

  1. That Zoe came over for a sleepover

Scott

  1. to mom’s doctor’s and caregivers who cared for her in connection with this week’s procedure, and for mom’s continued good health