Erin H King
Dear Mark & Mary Rose, and Deborah & Julian,
I just wanted you all to know that you are in our thoughts and our hearts.
We only got to meet Rachelle a couple of times, but I think that because of that, my impressions of her are especially strong. The first time was in the summer of 2005, I believe. (Please forgive me if my dates are wrong. A while ago, a computer failure wiped out most of our photographs and records of those years, so I'm having to rely on my feeble memory.) We came out to CA for a conference at Stanford, and Mark and Rachelle picked us up at SFO and drove us to our motel. Isaac and Ruth had wanted to bring something from Florida to their California cousin, so they bought a small plush alligator which they named "Chomp-chomp". I can picture the three kids jumping back and forth between the two beds in the motel room, tossing Chomp-chomp back and forth between them, laughing uproariously. Isaac was about 7 1/2, Rachelle about 4, Ruth about 3 1/2.
A few days later we drove over to Hayward so that we could say hi to Mary Rose and meet Charlene (sorry if I got the spelling wrong), who was only a couple of weeks old. Mark was teaching Rachelle how to play dominos. I was so impressed by how well she understood the game, because I admit, I have never understood dominos!
A few years later, perhaps 2008, we flew out again. That's when we met Mark and the girls at the recently-opened Newark Aquatic Center, and had such a lovely day. It's nearly impossible when you have 4 kids of such different ages (3 - 11) who have different interests and personalities, and who don't really know each other, to find something that they can enjoy doing together, but that hit the target. They spent hours riding the slides and the "lazy river", and playing "Marco Polo" and a game that they called "Water Volleyball", but was really just a free-for-all of hitting a beach ball back and forth. They gave each other extra points for jumping off the edge in an especially impressive way.
A few days later, we all met up at Aunt Bonnie's house. I remember that Deborah had made a sugar cookie dough that the kids could cut out in whatever shapes they wanted, and paint with food coloring. Again, something that they all enjoyed. Rachelle made a point of using every color at least once, and on her last cookie using every color that was left, even if there was only enough for a dot.
May you always find comfort and strength in your memories.
Lots of love from your Florida family,
Erin and Jonathan, Isaac and Ruth
