Family Picture

I was looking at the newspaper a few days ago and noticed a small article about a family that had children the same age as our two older children. These children went to the same elementary school as our children. I read the article and looked at the family picture.

As I looked at the picture and read the part about the 17-year-old daughter, who will be graduating this year and going off to college in the fall, I thought about our 17-year-old daughter. I tried to envision what our family picture would look like with a "normal" Kimmie, a Kimmie who would be preparing to graduate from high school and enter college.

This didn't last long. The "normal" Kimmie felt like a stranger in our family and the sense that someone was missing was overwhelming.

Not only did this substitution change the outward appearance of our family, but it changed each member of our family. It felt like we were all different people without our Kimmie.

We'll keep our little Kimmie, just the way she is. She has helped shape each of us into who we are and we wouldn't be the same without her.

--Mom

P.S. We don't actually have too many family pictures. They all come out a little funny looking. Either Kimmie is making faces or some or all of us are looking at Kimmie to see if she is smiling and looking at the camera, which, of course, means we are not looking at the camera.

--Mom