Karen and John Hope's Validation with their son Shawn through Christine Salter
Posted
-
- Feb
- 18
- 2025
by Elizabeth Boisson
Grandson and Little Tykes Excavator with Mountain Picture / Shawn Fishing / Christine Salter
On February 16th, Christine Salter connected with our son, Shawn, and gave us amazing validations he is truly with us every day, sharing our adventures and holidays.
First of all, she felt Shawn was an outdoors person. That was so true - he felt most at home in the outdoors whether he was hiking, biking, camping, hunting, boating, fishing, skiing - you name it…he did it and loved every minute of it. He was planning to hike the AZ National Scenic Trail from beginning to end before he had his accident. As Christine said, he lived and didn’t regret anything.
Christine felt he pushed himself as much as he could and loved the adrenalin rush. He had just bought himself a motorcycle and was preparing to race on the track with it when he had his accident on it. He was so excited to race. Anything that moved fast, he loved.
Christine mentioned she felt he was showing us something about fishing. One of our trips in memory of Shawn was to learn how to fly fish. We decided to do this because I found some pictures of him fishing in different spots. So, we bought all the gear - poles, waders, flies, boots, nets to continue enjoying this activity. We even added more equipment this past Christmas. My husband and I feel closest to him when we are out in nature, in the quietness of the river, peacefully fishing. We are glad he has been with us!! When we are heading to the fishing spots, we usually see the number 1 in multiples.
But the most defining validation from Christine was her description of Christmas, putting packages together and that he wants us to do more. We have passed out gifts to the homeless in his name, but my husband and I believe its our family’s tradition of “Shawn gifts” he was referring to. Since Christmas was his favorite time of the year, our highlight during this season is opening “Shawn gifts” from one another. They are funny gifts, insightful presents and beautiful peeks into Shawn’s amazing personality. Every gift is unique depending on the giver and their memory of him. This year we included our 17-month old grandson in the gift exchange by giving him a Little Tikes Excavator, one similar to Shawn’s first car at age 2, complete with a clue on the package that said “Hope you dig it”. The clue is part of the tradition too.
I have to mention this…
About a week after Christmas, our grandson wanted the picture of Shawn and his sister at the top of Four Peaks that was on the shelf. Christine asked if Shawn liked to mountain climb and this is the connection we had with this piece of information. Other family pictures were on the shelf, but that is the one our grandson pointed to and insisted on holding. Once I gave it to him, he took the picture and placed it on his “Shawn gift,” the Little Tikes excavator. The picture remained there for days just sitting on the seat of the excavator. We do not believe this was coincidence after Christine’s validations. Here are some picture:
We are very grateful to Christine for her gift of being able to connect with Shawn and sharing him with us. We will now look forward to our fishing expeditions and our Christmas traditions with excitement knowing Shawn loves all of it!! We will be keeping our eye out for Underdog for sure too!!
~Karen & John Hope
Please watch the YouTube video by clicking here.