Amazing Alli

Hello My name is Steve, Allison’s Brother.

My notes have the title of “Amazing Alli”.

Am I right? Wasn’t she just amazing!!

An amazing daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, wife, mother, aunt, cousin, coworker, boss, friend, special friend, artist, support counselor and a #1 cheerleader for any and all accomplishments.

Ummm hang on! Did I miss one. Heck, yes I did. She was an amazing human being.

Let me give you some background information from my prospective as Allison’s favorite big brother.

Can you see the Quotes “It was a dark and stormy night.” We have heard this many time from James on his first date with JoAnn. Later in the relationship came this quote. “I thinks I love ya baby, let’s go get a Pizza” His Love for pizza and JoAnn, still hold true today.  I think the correct order is, JoAnn then pizza. That being said, if the food item was nachos, it may be a different story.

July 17 1975 – Allison Dana Ray was born.

As a young child, She was all smiles. A happy, curly haired fun loving kid.

While living in Yakima, that happiness was shared in the Yakima Herald newspaper. Allison and a neighborhood chum, Kim Haddocks, were walking back from school and both were caught by a newspaper photographer. The picture shows then stomping in the mud puddles with their umbrellas up and huge smiles. There were a few extra copies of the paper bought that day.

High school years at Columbia River in Vancouver, graduating in 1993. Marching band, studies and boys? I cannot comment in depth, as during these years I was out of the house.

Then came Western Washington University again studies and working at “The Bird” AKA Red Robin. A total success with a Viking College degree and many new lifelong friends. The math wizard that she was (Question mark, Question mark), came in handy when she was working at the Bird. She developed a quick and easy Canadian/US exchange rate. The math worked for her but not so much for the canucks.  I never did get the math she was using, and I don’t think the Canucks did either.

Early on you could see Allison had her Dad’s work characteristics. Goal oriented – set it and excel to a mark higher than the goal that you sent for yourself.

The Hanson Years:

I believe it started at Alli’s 30th Birthday party extravaganza. Go kart racing and a short pub crawl out at Ocean Shores.

Who is this Guy and does he know what he is getting into? As far as this crazy family? There were also strict orders to James to not give him a nick name too soon. You all know James. Right Garbonzo, Precious, Mak Mak, The Viking Princess, Hook… That one is kinda strange, right Hook as early on you were slicing the golf ball!!... and there are ohhh so many more.

Looking at Barrett, I see another over achiever. He works hard to exceed the lofty goals he sent out to reach.

And a Huge “Thank You” to Barrett: for setting your Goal, to be the best husband in the world to our Alli.

OK lets breathe... in with the good, out with the bad. One more time in with good and out with bad.

Then came Malena.

Another go getter. That apple did not fall far from her mom and dad. She is one smart crafty cookie. And with our support, she too will reach her goals.

You may know now, if you hadn’t already been aware.

Allison Dana Ray Hanson

AKA Alli

Was and will always be known as a Fighter, she fights to reach her goals and ambitions. The only limitation to her ability was that there are only 24 hours in a day. There were many times I would see a late night postings. I then got on the tweeter hooter, another James term for a Cell phone, and sent a text or comment on her blog reminding Alli bedtime is 10pm.

On the day of Alli’s passing. There was a humming bird feeder outside her window. I’m thinking its January in the Pacific Northwest... are there still humming birds around? Yep there are. A few came and slurped up throughout the day. The feeder had a ring at the pedal so a bird can sit and eat.

During Alli’s last breaths, a humming bird came back and sat at the feeder. It was not eating. It was waiting patiently, for what? Was it there to comfort us at Alli’s bed side? Was it there to help Alli? For whatever reason, I have a new reason to enjoy a humming bird. I am looking for just the right humming bird feeder for my home. It will be another reminder to me of my amazing sister.

Allison

We Love you

We Miss you

And You will always be with Us.

unicorn

I wanted to write this out for a long time but it was just too hard.  I wanted to do it since Malena was not at an age to talk at the celebration and to make sure her and I always had this memory.  

As you may know Alli collected different inspirational items that she brought with her to all of the different doctors appointments, scan results, and other things over the years.  As Malena and I were preparing for Alli's burial we decided that some of those items should be with her body to know how much she meant and inspired us.  Malena was instrumental in helping pick out each one we chose from the many items in Alli's collection.  I wanted to share just a short thought on why we picked the out.

bravery - everything about her was brave.  when it would have been easy to quit she always picked up her boxing gloves for another fight to spend every day possible with all of us.

friendship - as much as she meant to all of you, you meant as much to her.  she cherished every friendship and doing everything she could to put smiles on your faces always put a smile on her face.

luck - as much as we miss her everyday we were lucky to get the time with her and with each other as a family.  without that luck we wouldn't have the most amazing daughter in the world.

love & a heart - the love we shared as a family should always be with her.  and as hearts always had a way of finding her we wanted her to have one for eternity as a symbol of our love.

Finally, we chose a unicorn... I mean who wouldn't plus she really was a mythical person that will live on in all of our hearts and stories forever.  

for my everthing

i struggled with what to say today.  i stared at a blank screen trying to write this out seemingly every day. how do you describe someone that was your everything?  that you shared every laugh with and every tear with.  that you brought the most special girl into this world with and had the hanson tickle fights on the couch with.  which always seemed to turn into malena and i versus alli and which i will admit now may not have been a fair fight like i told her it was.

how do you describe the person you knew was the one from the very beginning?  who you were essentially inseparable with from day one.  where there were fireworks, literally and figuratively, exploding overhead when we kissed on one of our very first dates… granted it was the 4th of july so i may have had the deck stacked in my favor on that one.

there isn’t just one story that i can tell that describes her because it was every story that made her who she was.  she cared about every person and every story.  that so many of you are here today is a testament to that.  she was the kindest, most selfless, most loving person i have ever known.  i have and will continue to love and miss her every day and i was truly the luckiest man in the world to be her husband.

now i have a request.  alli strived to bring more happiness into this world every single day.  she would want all of us to help now in keeping that going.  as everyone who has seen one of her out of office message at work knows, it takes an entire, gigantic team of people to do all that she did.  i’m asking all of you to be that team.  be a part of a happy mail campaign for someone that needs a smile; leave a candy bar to brighten a person’s day, buy that random person in line behind you a coffee, smile and ask someone how their day is going to make sure they know that people care about them.  keep all those things that she did for people going.  you all know she would do the same for you.

-your loving husband

Stories

Thank you to all of you that have sent in their stories with Alli.  I'm going to post the eulogies from the family at the celebration of life first then post all the great stories that people have sent it.  To keep this on a more regular schedule I'm going to try and post 1 or 2 a week moving forward.  If you haven't had a chance to email me a story but wanted to please still email it in.  The email address again is Alli_Celebration@comcast.net.  

Alli's Helpers - Happy Mail facebook campaign page

One of Alli's friends, Tracy, started a facebook page to keep the Happy Mail campaigns going.  Please see her message below and sign up to help sending smiles around to make the world a happier place.  


"In honor of Alli, please join Happy Mail Campaigns to keep her joy and love of life flowing.  A facebook page has been created...https://www.facebook.com/happymailcampaigns and a couple of campaigns have already been initiated.

The page is off to a good start, but Alli's army is huge, and we need help getting the word out far and wide so Alli's magical happy mail is a success.

Please spread the word to family, friends, Alli's fans and any kindhearted person you know to like the page and to sign up for campaigns whenever possible.  If not on Facebook, e-mail HappyMailCampaigns@comcast.net .

Campaign details will be sent via e-mail, messenger, etc...no contact information will be posted publicly.

Sending a happy thoughts out into the world only takes a second and doesn't have to cost much...in fact, it can be free if you send an e-mail :)...Alli wanted to good vibes and mojo to flow, so let's be Alli's helpers and do this in homage to her."