Sweet Rosemary

My Aunt Rosemary passed away on Saturday, September 26th. This has been a deep sadness. She was a wonderful woman, and my heart aches. But today I would like to share a poem that my niece Sarah Sherman wrote. Sarah is a talented writer, and I was blown away by the beauty and tenderness she captured with her words. Without further adieu,

Sweet Rosemary

Some people deal with death, by throwing their hearts at walls
Sobbing through the pain, laughing away the sorrow
Or by becoming a hollow shell of their former selves

By trying to forget the memories shared, but not lost
Some remember and don't let go
By building walls and letting no one else inside their boundaries, their misery...
By surrounding themselves in joy, By wearing black
Or by fighting off paper tigers, threatening, but harmless

To the stranger of this loss we now share
These mechanisms of coping seem weak and dangerous

But the only way to heal is to know and feel all of our pain
Letting it rush into our bodies, weak from the struggle
Of countless times we've seen her in agony, unable to do anything about it
And we tell the pain to do its worst
So we can begin to face our life somehow without
the lost wife, mother, sister, aunt and friend... Sweet Rosemary

In beginning to slowly and painfully heal
By realizing that her life is not over and will never be forgotten,
Captured in the tears of her sisters,
Or in the laughter of the stories her friends share,
By the twinkle in her husband's eyes when he sees
the smiles her children wear that radiate.... Sweet Rosemary

By the way her mother and father meet her in the sky
And hold her saying, "Welcome home."
And we know this is why her grandchildren look to the heavens
And swear they just they just saw their grandmother looking back

By being imprinted in the sweet memories of everyone here
She will live on until we see her smiling face again
Her body cradled in the glittering, soft clouds
Shining in triumph from a life well lived, well loved, and well served
In the heavens we will smile when we see her arms held wide open for us
Not soon, but in time

And we will embrace her and say
Sweet Rosemary...

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sarah Sherman

Such a Great Weekend

We had such a busy weekend! So much fun.

Friday night...Olive Garden "Never Ending Pasta Bowl". Seriously? How would this NOT be the best way to kick off the weekend? The Olive Garden might be my most favorie restraunt on Earth. Always has been. Always will be. YUMMY.

Saturday, we ran some errands for the house in the morning. Then I took Danny up to the North Chagrin Reservation for Monarch Madness. What a fun time. Jodi and kids joined us, and the kids had a ball. Danny touched a butterfly and Noelle and Noah put them on their noses! It was so fun to watch Danny's little face react to everything. We enjoyed some music and walked around looking for frogs and turtles. And we found some!



Saturday evening, we went to the Corn Festival in Willoughby Hills. I wish we had gone up there a little earlier to see more of the festivities...but none the less, we had a great time. Danny sat on the edge of his seat. He loves crowds. He is so busy looking at everyone and everything. A firework went off signaling that fireworks would start soon, and he didn't even flintch. Meanwhile, I jumped about 10-feet in the air. We headed home shortly before the fireworks started. Although he did great with one boom, I wasn't going to jinx it.



Sunday, we started the day off with the annual Walk To Remember. This year was another big hit! We had lots of family to join us, and the kids had a good time (I think). It's amazing how far we've come in the three years we've done the walk. In 2007, our loss was very new, and participating in the walk gave me hope that we would be one of the couples someday remembering our loss, while walking with a little one. In 2008, I was 9-months pregnant. Danny was born less then 2-weeks later. And this year, Danny was with us. He was spoiled by his Aunts, Cousins and Grandmas who took turns carrying him for the one-mile walk. He fell asleep on the twins. So sweet.




After the walk, we went to visit my Aunt Rosie at the Cleveland Clinic. I am hoping that seeing Danny brought her a little bit of joy. She is amazing. Such an unbreakable spirit. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she battles cancer.

All About the Devil in Disguise

Wow. Where is the time going? Danny had a long week last week. He had a case of some belly bug that appears to have taken a toll on him and a few of his "classmates" in day-care. Hopefully, whatever virus they had has said good-bye to the infant room.

His little bootie has never been so red and sore. And I think it may have been harder on me then on him. He is a champ when it comes to falling down, knocking his head, getting his shots, etc. But this was a doozie. And his pain made him shake which in turn made me cry. I can only hope (sigh) that a bad diaper rash/belly bug is the worst of it.

Speaking of his bootie...we are seeing it more and more lately! He has a tendency to show it off when he should be laying down to have his diaper changed. Ahh...the diaper changing routine. I have now learned to master the art of putting a diaper on a standing child that looks like he is being frisked! He puts his hands on the wall, and I have to somehow manage to keep him from falling off the table, while keeping an arm around his waist for balance, and then using my third arm to put the diaper on. Wow. I actually break out in a sweat sometimes! (guess I'm out of shape!). Last week, this was extra challenging as he had two different types of bootie creams that needed to be applied!

Danny does not stay still....EVER! I was out of town for part of the weekend, and David would keep me in the loop by sending a few pictures to my phone...he was always on the go! When I got home on Sunday night at 7:00pm...Dave said "he's yours!". And he was. And I ate him up...after he got a bath. Then we did the stair routine. We try to burn some energy with him...so we let him climb the stairs a few times a day...in a row...to tire him out. He goes up...then we start all over again.

And he's loud. He talks...A LOT. Not much unlike his mom. I just hope he never has Ms. Daily for third grade. If so, he'll have lots of check marks after his name....

Stacking cups are a big hit. He loves to clank them together. His grandma gives him metal measuring cups...and boy does he have a blast with that. And spatulas. And spoons. And he's fearless. He goes after Freddy (our 120 pound dog) constantly. He chases him. Freddy is only interested in Danny when he's in the high chair and throwing food over the side. Otherwise, Danny just annoys Freddy. And because Fred is almost 10, we are aware that Danny might REALLY annoy Freddy, so we stay right on top of that. Otherwise...Danny is off like a dog after a rabbit.

Food. We are trying to figure out this food thing. For being a chub-a-lub, he really doesn't enjoy meal times. He will eat a few bites of something, and then the game is to spit it out. Frozen cut up bananas are always a hit though. Maybe he really is a monkey? I need to look up the book by Seinfeld's wife...that has creative ways to feed kids healthy foods. I don't think Cheerio's and Puffs are going to give him everything he needs.

We are working on cutting the pacifier out. We went cold turkey a few weeks ago, no problem. We had a mild set back when he was sick, but we are back to no pacifier. The goal is to wean him off prior to his first birthday...which is in 20-days!!!

My little man is going to be ONE in less then three weeks! What an amazing year it has been. We are having so much fun and still enjoying all of it (or at least 99.999999999999%).

I will try to add some pictures soon. He is growing so fast, and his hair is curling in the back. He still only has two teeth, but his uppers are starting to push through. And he is so close to walking. He will stand there like King $hit, smile, then take a few steps and fall. Thank goodness for diapers!