To Lauren, From Katy

Lauren,

Well, you have been gone now (from this world) for just over two months. I can't even believe it. I miss you so much but I am so constantly thankful for all the time we were given. So many things make sense that didn't before and it has just been so obvious that God was working toward a specific purpose.

So much has happened in just over two months. Isaiah is now in kindergarten and is loving it. He's such a big kid and is so much fun to watch. You can just tell when he feels important because he has grown up business to take care of now. Like when he tells me he needs to work on his pretend-homework or when he's all emphatic about getting together his item for show-and-tell. David was more freaked out about Isaiah starting kindergarten than Isaiah was. I literally spent more time soothing David's nerves than I did Isaiah's. He rides the bus to and from school every day (Isaiah, not David) and is making friends with some of the other kindergarteners who ride the bus, too. He's doing really well in soccer and is enjoying all the feelings of importance there, too. He's growing very tall and lean now. He looks older every day. My little boy is growing into a little man.

Lydia turned four and had her Tinkerbell birthday. We celebrated on Sunday the 18th instead of the 17th, which I'm pretty sure I told you we we were going to do. It was really pretty...everything pink and green. She's been slowly recovering from a terrible bought with stomach flu. We all had it. For 16 straight days, somebody in the house was sick. Lydia just had it worse than the rest of us, by far. She's lost a lot of weight, but she's getting better. So far, she hasn't been too bothered with Isaiah being gone all day. She gets undivided attention and is, of course, loving it. We run errands, and clean house, and paint fingers and toes, and all other things girly. She's also finally starting to show some interest in basic academics, not just Polly Pockets and hair doo-dads. She also still asks when we will be going back to the "twirling lesson" with all the other girls and even practices her twirling pretty regularly. We'll see where that goes. I'd kinda hoped to hand her off to you for lessons, seeing as you were going to be up here for law school anyway. But like I said, we'll just have to see where that goes.

David went to Europe with the UMKC Big Band. They were gone for 12 days and he played in Paris, Montreux, and Amsterdam. In Paris, he called me before they played to tell me the venue was the mall right in front of the Eiffel Tower. Oh, and their bus dropped them off just in front of the Louis Vuitton store, too. No, he didn't buy me a bag. While in Switzerland, the hotel they stayed in was located on the Evian aquifer...so they were all bathing in Evian. He came back with great-looking skin and hair and said we were moving to Switzerland, but we all needed to learn French and German first. We immediately began trying to find ways to learn foreign languages quickly. (Vite! Vite!) He came back with so many great stories...too many to tell in one sitting. Just remind me to tell you all about it a little later. He's back in school now, too. He's gigging pretty regularly and even has a gig in Phoenix coming up. Today UMKC, tomorrow the Grammys. More realistically, we're just hoping for a solid GPA. Oh!, and he has a mohawk now too. Right after he got it, we were talking about what friends and family reactions might be. I couldn't help but think of you and how much you would have loved it. In my mind, I could just imagine some of the things you would have said. I know you would have been, by far, the most enthusiastic supporter of the new cut. ...Basking in the glorious "go your own way" moves of your fellow youngest-child. By the by, when I get frustrated, he still refers to me and says, "the grown ups are getting angry." So, I just want to thank you for that little comment. It still gets plenty of use.

Jamie's back in school now. She's doing ok. She has good days and bad, just like the rest of us. I'm going down there this weekend to help write the feature. I knew you would want me to and I'm very excited about getting to help. She said your muddy handprint is still on the back of the University Center sign...we're trying to figure out some way to preserve it. (David suggested we just steal the sign. I told him it was pretty big. He just looked at me...and said, "It's just a sign. Look like you know what you are doing and no one will care." I've yet to share that little bit of info with Jamie. Maybe while I'm there, we can see how far we get with David's advice. If nothing else, it will make for an exciting project. *wink*) Jamie wants to run for homecoming queen. I think that would be great for her this semester. She doesn't need anything else on her plate, but this would be fun -- and she needs that. She and Randy are still planning on getting married next year. But they are taking things slowly, like you advised.

Your sister, Geri, is at it again. (Yeah, I called her your sister!) One of the new girls on guard worked under Geri at Antlers. She reported that Geri threatened to charge each girl on the SOSU guard $50 for every move of hers she sees on the field. Can you believe that?! And after she's been pawning off two- and three-year old material of mine and teaching it to Antlers -- and getting paid for it! Maybe I should make good on her threat and retrieve $50 from her for everything she taught them that was originally ours. I'd likely pay off a student loan from it all. Besides that, as if we would ever use any of her material for anything. I found the whole thing hugely laughable...But isn't it good to know some things just never change?

Mr. Crispy, uh, Christy is still engaged to Candi. There's no date set and he says they will have a long engagement. I think he's secretly hoping Jesus will return before he has to marry her. Wouldn't that really be in the best interest of everyone involved? I mean, really? He did speak at your funeral and did a very nice job. He even read an excerpt from your blog that I'd given him just a little while before he spoke. It was the part about how I'd told you time was of the essence and you prayed your time was well spent. It was all very well done. There was a reserved seating section for twirlers. Pepper was there and so were Sawyer and Dawn. And eight of us girls were there: Jamie, Mamy, Amy B., Stef and Steph, Manda, Lindsay, and me. We were all honorary pall bearers, too. In your honor (and with your mom's permission) we all went barefoot...we figured you'd appreciate us all walking around in church without shoes.

I talked to Sarah yesterday. It's been a few weeks since we'd had a chance to visit. She was driving and decided (of course) to call me. (I love that driving time means "call Katy" for my mom, Adrianne, Amy, Stefanie, Jamie, Sawyer, you...and now Sarah.) She was on her way to Whiteface. Two-a-days are underway and she's getting back into the swing of everything. She hasn't talked to Eric in a while, but said he's doing ok too...as far as she can tell. We talked about me going to Durant this weekend. I told her how I was hesitant to even offer my help to Jamie because I didn't want it to seem insincere. Then she used an example almost identical to the one I had used several posts ago -- about somebody extending an invitation without really meaning it. I couldn't believe how similar her analogy was to mine, but then you always said she and I were so much alike. The more time I spend talking to her, the more I see it too. It always makes me smile.

I call your mom pretty regularly, or at least I try. It seems like she and I have the same tendencies for conversation that you and I had. I don't think we've had a phone call yet that was under 90 minutes. I love getting to talk to her, I love hearing her tell stories. Sometimes they are about you, or the family, or just about anything we might think up. I always try to give updates on everything up here. I don't want our conversations to only be about how much we miss you...even though that's usually a predominant topic.

And me? Well, I blog...pretty often, too. I still read your blog all the time. So much of it is just hysterical, I only wish I'd found it earlier. Other than that, things are going ok, I guess. I'm hoping to start teaching twirling lessons in Kearney, if I can ever get it all together. With Isaiah in soccer, David's gigs, and -- Oh!, I am now in PTA! I can't get over it. Anyway, with everyone else's schedules to worry about, I'm hesitant to add anything to our plates. I don't want to get back into the whole "I-only-have-15-unscheduled-minutes" thing. I'll be proceeding with caution and chanting my new mantra, "God is bigger", every step of the way.

Mostly, I still just can't understand how you could be gone. It took me over a month before I stopped impulse-calling you. I mean, life is still moving -- it always has, and always will -- but, this has definitely been a challenge. It's truly hard to believe how fast things move, especially when all you want is for everything to stand still for just a little while. The good news is I know you are at total peace, and that helps. And I know we will be seeing you again soon...even if it's 90 years from now, in the grand scheme of things, that's just not all that long.

I should probably go now. Chris comes in this weekend and so do Kathy and Ernie -- and I leave!...to go to Durant, that is. Needless to say, there's quite a bit of prep work left to do and I don't know that I'm getting any of it done while I write to you. In fact, I'm quite sure it will all still be waiting for me, unfortunately.

I miss you and can't wait to see you again.

I love you, Lauren,

katy