AMANDA'S STORY
Amanda was born on August 14, 1984 in Jacksonville Florida. She joined her Mom,
Dad & sister Michelle. From the time of her arrival, she kept us moving! At 9 months
of age,she began Red Cross swimming lessons as we had a pool at our home. By
18 months , she could swim the length of the pool.On her fifth birthday, we moved
to the Atlanta area. From the first grade through seventh grade she took dance. As
proud parents we thought she was good. Amanda started band in the 5th grade
and played the clarinet. In the 7th grade, she swiched to the oboe and started
private lessons. In the summer of 1997, Amanda joined our neighborhood swim
team and found that she was quite a good swimmer competitively. She joined
Dynamo swim club in the fall and swam year round. Amanda was very active and
we stayed busy transporting her from school to swim to oboe lessons. As time
went by, Amanda's involvement in music started taking more and more of her
time. She learned to play the piano, saxophone, trumpet, flute, and drums. She
continued to love her oboe the best. Michelle graduated from Berry College in
May 1999 & returned home until her wedding in November 1999. Amanda &
Michelle became close during this time. Amanda was a bridesmaid in Michelle's
wedding & looked very beautiful, although she hated to be told this! Amanda
preferred jeans & T-shirts! The day she turned 15, she got her restricted permit.
Her dream for the next year, was to get her drivers licence on the day she
became eligible-August 15, 2000. The countdown became a daily ritual for
Amanda,by early summer, 2000. We told Amanda that if she stayed on the
honor roll, we would give her Dad's car to drive. She stayed on the honor roll,
but was in ICU when the time came for her to get her license and the car. The
year 2000 started out good. Amanda had always wanted to go on a cruise, so
we cruised to the Bahamas during spring break. She loved it and talked about
going again. Amanda asked if she could stay with a friend to attend band
practice during our summer vacation, the last week of June.The Chattahoochee
High School band was playing in the Atlanta Fourth of July parade. Amanda
was playing the bass drum for the first time and did not want to let the band
down. During that week she made her own picture album, writing notes under
each picture. We discovered this gift after she was gone. Amanda attended
oboe camp during the 3rd week of July. The end of camp, a recital was recorded, giving us a beautiful CD of Amanda's music. That is the only recording we have
of her playing the oboe. On August 5th, Amanda came home from her best friend Karen's house complaining that she did not feel well. The next day we took her
to the doctor and were told she had had a virus and should be OK in a few days.
The following day she went to the emergency room because she was having
difficulty breathing and was admitted with bilateral pneumonia. Two days later, she was transferred to Egleston Children's Hospital ICU. We stayed with her at the hospital for the next 7 weeks. Surrounded by Mon, Dad, Michelle, Granddad, Grandma, and several of her closest friends, her oboe CD playing, the angels
came for her around 4:45 P.M. Sept.22, 2000.
