E-man & Z-girl Adventures (and other Bucior fun): A Year and a Lifetime of Memories

My dearest Grandma Helen,

We have missed you so much over this past year, it's hard to believe it's been that long. You have been in my life almost as long as I can remember. I think of you at the oddest times, when I see your initials randomly on someone's whiteboard, when I see a Canadian goose honking in the sky, when one of my children's books mentions a kookaburra and I tell the kids how you used to sing the song to us as children.

"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

Merry merry king of the bush is he

Laugh, Kookaburra, Laugh, Kookaburra

Gay your life must be."

Evan remarks that you must have sung to us a lot, which you did. He doesn't know you didn't have the greatest singing voice, but we loved it anyways.

I am thankful that Evan will remember you, if it's only a blur in his mind as the years go by. He does lament that now that you are gone, we don't know any handicapped people anymore.

Helen and baby Evan at one month, October 2008

I am thankful that you got to cradle Zoey for the first time, in only her first weeks of life.

Helen and baby Zoey at two weeks, June 2011

I am thankful for that last visit. Thankful that you were awake and able to talk to us, to tickle Zoey as she climbed on your bed, to tell us to never get old. You said you were tired, and I kissed you on the forehead as we walked out the door. Evan waved goodbye. I am thankful for that day.

Most of all I am thankful for you. Thankful that you took us into your life with open arms (and an open door). The time spent at your house when we were kids is something I will never forget. Dressing up in Jack's old t-shirts, sleeping together in that gigantic bed, watching movies and eating your butterscotch cookies.