When Katelyn was 4, she began taking speech therapy. At first she was the only one in her time slot but soon another little girl joined the therapy sessions. Katelyn and Allison became fast friends. The mom and I got along great too. We even learned we were both LDS just in different stakes. In 2008 there were boundary line changes and our section of our former ward/stake got transferred over to Cerritos 1st Ward. Our first Sunday, to our delight, was Allison and her family. Katelyn was greeted with a big hug from her old friend even though we hadn't seen her in more than a year. It sure made attending a new ward so much easier for a child who has trouble with adjusting to new things.
Yesterday we got the news no parent wants to hear....even when the child isn't your own....Allison passed away in her sleep Sometime in the wee hours of Thursday night/Friday morning. At this time cause unknown. The first thing I did was hug my daughters tighter as I burst into tears. We were on our way out the door for the Cerritos Stake mother-daughter campout and Katelyn was excited to go and play with friends. She was esp looking forward to seeing Allison. She's the kind of child who would hound me forever asking where her friend was so I had to sit her down and explain to her. Now she's handling it as best as can be for a child on the autism spectrum. She grasps it on some level but her grieving process, I realized after she dealt with the loss of another friend's mother earlier this year, is completely different than normal developed kids. But I can still tell this is tough on her.
I'm struggling with it more. I have so many emotions running through my head. Why them? Not that I want it to be me....but why am I so blessed to still have my two children to hug? What if it were me in the same shoes? And this is just to name a few. As parents we all have the idea at the back of our mind that we will go before our kids. None of us ever expects our kids to go before us. And then in the blink of an eye, one little girl is taken from her earthly parents to return again to her heavenly parents. Right now there is comfort in knowing that Allison had such a desire to do the Lord's will in her short 8 years on this earth...even to having her family leave a local amusement park early so she could go to her baptism interview when the bishop called while they were having a family outing. We weren't able to make it, the aforementionned little girl who lost her mom was also baptized the same day. But I know how excited Allison was and I know it was a special day with family and friends and sharing the day with two cousins who were also baptized that same day. I know there's a greater reason, one none of us can comprehend right now, as to why her time on earth short and why it happened without warning. Thankfully we can rely on the Lord to comfort us and heal our aching hearts.
Katelyn told me on the way home from the campout that she wanted to do something special. She brought up the subject all by herself. She said she wanted to take the picture she has with Allison (the one seen above) and get copies of it made. One photo will be for Allison's family. She's going to write down all her memories of Allison to include with the photo. I told her I'd help her do that and we'll make a scrapbook page out of it. The other photo she wants me to put in a frame and she wants me to write or paint "Some friends are angels, Some angels are friends" on it. With tears rolling down my face I said we could definitely do both of those things together.
If I could pass anything on to my girls so that they'll remember Allison it would this: Always keep a smile on your face. Live life to its fullest. Never be afraid to try anything. (if Allison had fears, I never knew them) Love your sister. (Allison was such a wonderful big sister and you could tell the love her little sisters had for her) And above all to follow the teachings of Heavenly Father.
We love you and miss you Allison.
"Some friends are angels......some angels are friends."
