20: The perfect day ...

Just before 10 this morning, I jumped in my car and made a mad dash to see my 9-year-old niece's track meet. I kind of wanted to bum around the house this morning and not have to put on my bra. But, I thought about how my sister would give anything to be able to see her daughter run, and so I just knew I had to be there.

We got there just after they began, and we -- my son and daughter and I -- got to cheer her on throughout the whole thing. When she crossed the finish line, we were there, cheering and taking pictures. Ofcourse, all she wanted was a cold swig of that life-saving liquid Gatorade.


After she finished her race, she wanted to go home and rest. My son wanted to go along with her to grandma's house, and my daughter wanted to stick by my side.

"You want to go hang out with mommy today? I have a $20 bill for us to spend!"

Her eyes widened with delight.

And we were off. We decided to go to Grandy's and hit the breakfast buffet. Just before we walked inside, she said "Can we go to Yelena's grave today? It's been a long time." Ofcourse! I told her.

Our original plan was to go yard-saling. Although, she had a much better idea. "Let's find something for Yelena at a yard sale and then take it to her." And then she talked about how we should find an angel, because angels always remind her of "Auntie Yelena."

Over pancakes, cheese grits and fresh honeydew, we made our plan. The plan was to go to one yard sale -- to the first one we see -- and find something, anything for my sister. "No matter what we find," I said. "It will be special."

I thought it would be fun to make it an adventure and for some reason, I was feeling like my sister was in on the plan herself when that song came on the speaker just over my head. It is that Celine Dion song "Because you loved me." That is my song to her -- we played it at her funeral.

With stuffed bellies, my daughter and I headed in the direction of the grave yard. We stopped at the first yard sale sign we saw in a quiet neighborhood around the corner. I was looking through the girls' clothing on one table when I heard my daughter: "Mommy! Mommy! Look what I found."

And she held in her hands, a ziplock bag with an angel ornament inside. The back contained a little, tiny book that read "An angel gets her wings."

"Oh my gosh!" I squealed. "I can't believe we found it! We found our angel!"

We made the trip to the grave yard and placed the angel on her headstone. Underneath my jet-black sunglasses, I was crying quietly. "Look what we brought you," I said to my sister. "An angel. We found our angel."


After we left, we stopped at ColdStone and shared an icecream. We came home to daddy and two, little screaming babies just before we painted our nails together.

Today was the perfect day with my daughter ... and my sister.