I'd often call my mother to tell her about something cute or funny that Madison had said or done. So many times in the past few months I have reached for my phone to call her and have simultaneously realized that she's gone. I miss those quick phone calls and our laughter. Madison has a way of leaving us a bit speechless at times with the things she comes up with. Yesterday Madison and I were at the grocery store. Now, while we're shopping Madison often darts ahead or ventures around a produce display. She always stays close, but I can't always see her. This makes me nervous. So, as Madison was coming around a display yesterday I said to her "Madison, please stop taking off on me" and in her Madison way she says "But Mom, I'm NOT taking off on you, I'm just taking my OWN path" I hope that my Mom had a good laugh over that one, wherever she is.

Karen was a one of a kind and I mean that in the best of ways, she had a way of dancing to her own music. I have so many wonderful memories of Karen in the best of times and the bleakest of times. Seven years ago I lost my only sister to the same hideous thing that took Karen from us. One of many things we have in common is the joy of christmas,never completly losing the child like wonderment of it all. That first XMas after my sisters passing there was no joy only anger and tears. One night about ten days before Christmas I was in my kitchen and I heard someone singing Christmas caroles,I looked out and there was Karen dressed in a complete Elf costume right out of Rudolph(something she wiped up in an hour,for most of us this would have been a week or more project) She had taken a string of lights and wrapped then around herself,so there was our Karen dressed in a elf costume all light up giving me one of the best presents I shall ever receive THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS AND THE SWEET SOUND OF LAUGHTER WITH A FRIEND. This is so typical of who Karen was she was born with the knowledge the best gift you can give anyone is the gift of yourself and this she did in so may ways, thru her sewing, cooking ,carpentry and her humor. The ELF hat shall always be an important part of my christmas and be past down to my daughter and grandaughter who cherish her memory. Deb Burke

Madison had begun to show an interest in Joel's fishing pole, so we had made one for Madison out of a bamboo garden stake and some fishing line that I strung some beads at the end of. My Mom was so excited. She called to let me know that she bought a fishing pole for Madison and couldn't wait to give it to her. So, I told her to come on over. Madison's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw what Kannie had brought for her. It was a little red and blue fishing pole with a bright red fish shaped casting plug at the end. The two of them promptly went down to the pond to try it out. My Mom showed Madison how to press the button to let the line drop and how to reel it back in again. I think Madison insisted on "casting" and reeling it back in again about 5,300 times (according to Kannie ;P ) before she'd agree to come back home for lunch. It became one of their things to do when the weather was nice and I needed a break. My Mom would bring Madison down to the pond and patiently keep her company while she went "shishing". The little bugger evem has her own stories about the one that got away...you know, that purple fish with red spots. I think my Mom gave Madison a fair bit of her imagination too.

My Mom always had fresh baked cookies for my sister and I when we were kids. As I got older, I never understood why I didn't like a lot of chocolate chips in my cookies. Being a chocaholic, it just didn't make sense that I'd prefer less chocolate in anything! One day I mentioned my cookie to chocolate ratio preference to my sister Jen and she laughed. As it turns out, because she made cookies so frequently and because money was often tight, she always used just 1/2 a bag of chocolate chips. So, Jen and I were mentally conditioned to like cookies with fewer chips. :)