Happy 16th!

This is Madison, Emily's friend from Florida. Notice the purple beads and headband.

Words from Mommy: "I was trying to remember her last 'earth' birthday. We celebrated at home and one of her gifts was a picture collage that Megan and Abbie put together for her of friends and family. (Emily loved looking at pictures). She often would get the box of loose pictures out and sit on the floor and take them out and look at them. She would be surrounded by pictures strewn all over the floor. The other gifts were a big poster of Shrek, one of the Disney Princesses and a stuffed Shrek."

Sweet 16 Tomorrow: HAP' BUDDAY!!!

Tomorrow would have been Emily's 16th birthday. I can still hear her saying "Hap' Budday!" She would say it often after someone's birthday until someone else celebrated theirs. We gave up trying to explain that it was no longer that person's birthday after the day was done. She was just convinced that it was that person's birthday until someone else had one. "HAP' BUDDAY, EMILY!"

A Visit to Emily's School

Today, I had to visit an intern at the middle school that Emily attended. As I approached it, I was reminded that, every time we would drive by her school, she would say proudly, "My school!" Sonja made me promise to say "hi" to Emily's teachers while I was there. So I looked them up. Ms. Mary Young said, "Come here and look at my computer." At first I didn't know what she meant, but then I noticed a picture of Emily taped to the top corner of her screen. Even after two years, Emily's teacher had left it there. She said the day Emily gave the picture to her, she pointed to the spot on her computer where she wanted the teacher to put it and that it's been there ever since. I can see Emily doing that!
It was great to see the two teachers who flew from Virginia to Orlando to see Emily in the hospital: Diane Isenhour and Nicole Sloan. We'll never forget all the faculty at Forest Middle School who loved our Emily.
Ms. Sloan took me outside to see the tree the school planted in Emily's memory. It has grown so big in these two years! At the bottom of the tree is a plaque with the nickname of what one of the teachers, Susan Boyd, called her: "Little Miss Sunshine."

"Dah-ee-Sam!"

Sometimes Emily would call me "Dah-ee-Sam" -- especially if she had called out "Dah-ee" several times before I responded. Then she'd sharply say "Dah-ee-Sam!" She knew that always got my attention. Today I'm missing her call me that.

What She Loved

A Florida friend just emailed these pics to us. Emily loved being with friends, swimming with them, and celebrating birthdays! When we get pics like this, it's like a special visit with her. It's been over two years, but we still miss her so.

Christmas 2002

This was the manger scene at Warner Christian Preschool in Florida. The picture is part of an ornament she made. It hangs to a ribbon that connects it to cutouts of her hand prints. Teachers, never underestimate how precious these little gifts are that you have students make for their parents. This is now priceless to us. This is our second Christmas without Emily. How thankful we are for the memories!

Emily loved cats. This one, Sugar, was birthed by our other cat, Thalia. Emily liked to "recite" the genealogy by regularly saying, "Thalia-mommy, Shoona-baby!" (Note the ever-present beads.)

The coming of the second autumn without Emily reminds me of the autumn of her 13-year life. What a special few months those were! She had been off treatment for six months and was full of more energy than we had seen in a long time. We always took her on walks in her wheelchair, but that fall she would ask us to stop so she could get out and run. It brought us great joy to see her run. Now she's running in Heaven.

Elena, Abbie's friend, recently drew this picture and wrote these words on the drawing:

You make me laugh.
Thoughts of you--thoughts of you spinning those beads round and round, hours and hours.
I'll never forget that sound.
Thoughts of you singing those tunes in the car.
Laughing, giggling, playing in the back seat--my little angel you are.

Thoughts of you watching that show many times.
Ha, I do not know, but every time it would play, you would find something new to enjoy looking at.

Your kisses and hugs are unforgettable.
Your laugh, sweet medicine that could heal all my pain.
How is it you're the only one that could make me smile on a rainy day?
Is it the way your eyes light up and sparkle when you look at me?
Is it your warm smile? That smile others wish they could capture the love behind?
Your love--that love you have is unique, precious.
Every little thing is so special, special just like you.
Oh, if only the world could have what you had.
My Emily.

This was a sand sculpture that Sonja, Abbie, and the Wyborny girls did in Daytona during a recent visit.