For Rose. . .

She is technically an in-law but I wanted to dedicate an entire blog to Rose because of how much she means to me. It's hard to believe that we have grown as close as we have from how we met. This tiny little exuberant girl who came bounding up to me excited to see who was dating her uncle Glenn. Within minutes of our meeting much to her Aunt Maureen's dismay she promptly asked if I was going to marry her uncle Glenn. Of course I didn't know then that I was going to, or how this little girl's life would end up so intertwined in mine. Our beginnings were rough, I wasn't as out-going as I think she would have liked, and then I didn't let her be my flower girl. That really irked her, but in my defense at that point in my life I was painfully shy and little kids scared me. The girl I am now would have loved to have her as my flower girl. As she grew up we didn't get to see her much except at Christmas and birthdays but it was always fun to see her as she grew, to see her creativity her love of photography and her joy in taking care of Jess, dressing her up and video taping her. When I was pregnant with Frances she came to live with us and help me with the other two. It was then that our relationship really became a friendship as opposed to Aunt and Niece. It was during this stay that Rose traveled with me to Quebec to see Kara. It was a tiring trip especially for Rose and it didn't help when on the drive back Elizabeth threw up every twenty minutes. I remember Rose hanging out the window of the passenger side just dying. Then she moved out for awhile and then I got pregnant with Christopher and she moved back in. This pregnancy I was tired all the time and wasn't much fun to be around at all. There was of course also three little girls around at this point for Candice to dress up and play with. The girls loved Rose and any time she was willing to spend with them. They loved dancing with her, recording themselves dancing, they loved dressing up and all the fun things she would do with them. Rose meeting Matt was amazing, both Gil and I were sure he was the right one right away and we were so happy when they figured it out too and got hitched. Her wedding was amazing and she looked so very beautiful. I felt so blessed this year when she included the girls in her wedding. Jessica as a bridesmaid, Beth a junior bridesmaid and Frances was the flower girl. They all looked so beautiful and I couldn't help but smile at the irony that she had all my girls in her wedding despite the fact I didn't have her in mine. There are many reasons why Rose is such a special person, she is dramatic, beautiful, extremely creative, full of life, complicated etc. She is one of a kind in every way and I am very blessed to know her, to have a friendship with her and I'm blessed that she has a relationship and friendship with my girls. I am very grateful to have Rose and Matt in our lives, to have her has my niece and friend. I am blessed that I have been able to develop a relationship with this wonderful woman and that she was patient enough with me in this process to let us become friends too. I love you Rose.