DeAnne Bloomberg

“One day I will tell little Moira my story, and I will become a strong uncle for her to turn to for help and guidance. I will become strong in mind, body, and spirit. I ask God for guidance in my journey to strength.” Mac wrote these words the night he became an uncle, and looking back, I think they speak so deeply to the man my son was and the kind of role model he wanted to be. While Mac may not be here physically to watch Moira grow up, she will always know her Uncle Mac - his strength, his faith, his music, and the extraordinary heart he shared with all of us. I will never forget standing in the hospital room and seeing Mac with such love in his eyes holding this precious little baby for the first time. Little Moira, our first granddaughter and Mac’s first niece, was named in honor of her grandmother. There is something very comforting to me in knowing that, in a different way than Mac imagined when he wrote those words, he can still be that uncle to her. As his nieces and nephews grow older, they will have his story, his music, and his own words to turn to. They will know how deeply he loved them from the very beginning and the kind of example he hoped to set for them. Music has always been one of the threads connecting our family. When our children were little, Moira would sing them the Irish lullaby “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral.” Years later, Mac recorded himself playing that same lullaby with members of the Lt. Dan Band for his album Resurrection and Revival. It means so much to me that his nieces and nephews can now hear their Uncle Mac playing a song their grandmother once sang to him. You can listen to Mac’s rendition here: youtube.com/watch?v=PZ0Ukt8q…. This is just one small piece of the story I share in Graceful Warrior. It is a story about our family - the highs and the lows, the joy and the heartbreak, and the ways we leaned on one another through circumstances we never could have imagined. Most of all, it is about the hope and faith we found along the way, even in our most difficult moments. Preorder your copy of Graceful Warrior today: bit.ly/4zo41Cx