A Letter From Mark And Jane

A Letter from Mark and Jane
With Love and Gratitude

I am thrilled to share with you these week the actual letter Thomas's parents, Jane and Mark, sent to The Center for Autism of the King's Daughter's School last week.

They honored all the employees at the school with HIH hearts.

Of course, this is a personal honor for me to not only be a part of sharing my company with others, but to also feel the sentiment of having had spent special time with Thomas during his younger years.

This is really what HIH is all about, and I am so very proud.

And this is what Thomas looks like today! All grown up!

With love,
Sahara



To each and every person who works at the Center for Autism of the King's Daughters' School:

A dear friend of ours, Sahara Damore, who helped us take really good care of Thomas when he was 4, 5 and 6, began a company after an inspiration she had one day seeing a man crying on the streets of San Francisco.

She experienced a strong desire to show generosity, connection, appreciation, and love to an individual, at that moment a complete stranger, and from this a whole goodwill organization has sprung up. When she was driving through town that day, Thomas was in the back seat of her car.

Sahara's Work now lives on the Internet, at a site called Heart Is Hot. When she finally began producing the hearts (from 100% recycled glass), she sent us Heart #16, and his story and our connection to Sahara are described on her web site (under Heart #16 or Thomas).

The heart she gave to Thomas has stayed with us. For me, it is a visual constant reminder of our love for Thomas. It sits on my bedside table, encouraging me to always send him love across time and space and to accept him, feel gratitude for what he has brought us, and to realize, over and over, that love and connection are what matter most.

The nature of these symbolic hearts is to convey love, gratitude for all of you, and to spread the human spirit connection we all share. Each heart is numbered and if, after possessing the heart for any amount of time, anyone chooses to pass on their heart, the individual heart can be followed online, all over the world.

Connections built on love and gratitude can spread to others. Or a heart can be yours forever. It is entirely one's own choice. It is a sort of "Pay It Forward" experience, though hearts certainly don't have to be passed on further. The Heart Is Hot website has hundreds of stories now of these hearts. Reading them is uplifting and fun.

We were with Sahara at the very beginning of her journey to realize this vision, and we are so grateful to her for giving us this way of honoring all of you. Sahara is one of the most extraordinary people we know and has been so important in Thomas's life, and our life as well.

Because of our close relationship over the years and her own generous nature, she has made these forty-seven hearts available to us. In this way she too honors the work that you do.

Everyone at KDS Center for Autism is an extremely important part of the hard-working, dedicated, skilled, and loving village where my child and every other child there can live well and grow in all realms.

These Hearts are for you, to remember how much you mean to my child and to every child there. The symbol on the heart represents our spiritual interconnectedness. Hopefully, looking at this beautiful little heart will remind you of your own great value to each child at CFA. And none of you could be there, doing what you do, without a Big Heart inside of you; this means so much more than can ever be adequately expressed.

With Love and Gratitude,
Jane and Mark (Thomas's parents)
May 4, 2009