Cute Kids

Hard to believe that this was taken after Sandi's funeral. The kids look happy and loved. Sandi would have been so proud of them! Megan and Abby are in the pink and blue dresses respectively and Katie is the tall one! Logan and Lauren are destined not to be giants I think! Can you believe that he is 15 months OLDER than Katie!

I know those of you reading this who are not family are probably tired of hearing about the kids and Sandi and want me to get on with the knitting but after spending a few days with the kids this week and becoming more a part of their lives I can't help but talk about them. I can't tell you how happy it made me to have Logan and Lauren come running to me when we walked in the door to get hugs. Logan and Katie have always been close and I knew him better than Lauren but while Sandi was hospitalized we got to know them so much better. I am so proud to help raise them the way Sandi would have wanted! I need to be involved in that!

We spent half of Thursday and a lot of Friday going through Sandi's closet. She had made notes of who was to do what for her if she did not beat this thing, and at the top of the list was "Kristi cleans out my closet!" It was not an easy job, emotionally or physically. I can't tell you how happy I was to do it! For those of you who do not know Mike, he is a neat freak. He likes to have his house "showcase ready" at a moments notice. Sandi and I grew up together, we kept house basically the same way until we each got married. You scheduled a day a week to clean and you did the whole thing that day. The rest of the week was just clutter control occasionally and dishes. Mike would vaccuum twice a day if he could. I say this in the kindest way possible of course, this always drove me insane! Anyway, Sandi had begun over the past 13 years or so to keep house like Mike and that was her way of appeasing him.

THEN THERE WAS THE CLOSET! I can't say anything, mine is exactly the same. While for Mike and Logan and Lauren the closet has that smell that was Sandi and they can see the clothes she wore everyday, for me the closet represented the fact that I really didn't lose that part of her that was the Sandi I remembered growing up. She kept her clutter and mess hidden from public view but she really hadn't changed all that much. Just like me, she needed that space to call her own and she did. Aside from all of the clothes and shoes that were too small for me to wear (Jami made out like a bandit though) I found the memories. They weren't wrapped up in the items themselves, just in the fact that I got to see the REAL Sandi in that closet! I won't tell you how many purses there were in there that had all of her reciepts (dating back to 2002 and before) and lipsticks, anyone who knew her knew about her lipstick addiction. Ok, I will tell you about the lipstick, there were 9, NINE, yes...NINE Raisinberry lipsticks and 5 Suede lipsticks in those purses, not to mention a slew of chapsticks and burts bee's lip colors. That was the Sandi I knew and loved. While she may have just wanted me to be the one to do that job to help Mike not have a coronary, I like to think that she knew how much I needed that. Thank you Sandi!