Bye Shirlie...

Steve's dearest grandmother Shirlie passed away at the end of February. Her health had deteriorated at a steady rate, but we had hoped she would be around for a few more months so we could visit and she could meet Freya for the first time. But that was not meant to happen (we have tickets to California in April).

Steven was in Geneva when Shirlie died, so 2 days after he returned home he was on a plane to San Francisco to help out Kathleen with all the practical things and with grandpa Jim. There were a lot of things to pack in the house... and a lot of dust!! Next Saturday Kathleen and Jim are flying to Washington D.C., and Jim will stay with us for a few days until he is cleared to move into an Elk Lodge care facility 3-4 hrs away in Roanoke, Virginia.

Steve's conversation with Anika one night in February

This is how it went:

We were walking Tascha at night before bed and she looked up in the sky and said "Look papa, there's the new moon!" [we had talked earlier about what the moon is called when it is really thin in a crescent shape.) "Yes, I see it!" I said. "Where is it going Papa, is it moving away from us?" "Well, no it is moving around us in a circle. See, the earth we are standing on is round, and the moon goes around us like a circle and comes back." She thought about that and said "And sun goes around us too?" [trying to contain my excitement] "No, we go around the sun! We go around the sun, and the moon goes around us, and we are all moving in space!" She said "I like this!" I said "I like it too!" And she said "And Tascha likes it too!" ......."Well", I said, "I don't think Tascha knows about this because she does not understand our words." She answered "I understand Papa!" "I know, and it makes me very proud" I said. We walked a few more steps and she turned to me and said "Tascha just understands woof woof"!