One of my favorite things to do in life is to visit Rowan's friend Charlotte...she's my friend too of course...actually my best little friend, but she was Rowan's friend first. We usually play a board game right away, which she always wins. Then we do some kind of arts and crafts project. We laugh until we are rolling on the floor, we both love puns, and we reminisce about Rowan here and there too. My "Charlotte days", are my favorite days.
Here are some pictures from my visit with Charlotte just a couple weeks ago. I am seeing her again tomorrow, and I cannot wait! But first I wanted to share a glimpse of our most recent time together.
We played SLAPZI (awesome game), and as usual...Charlotte won!
Before we started our Valentine's Crafts, Charlotte remembered that she wanted to show me something. She pulled this beauty out from under the couch.
She had made a personalized scrapbook about all of her and Rowan's time together. It spanned over 2 years but now some of the photos are over 4 years old, from them meeting on Valentine's Day in the hospital play room, through their playdates at the Zoo, Magik Theater, Doseum, the Riverwalk, to his Baptism Day, etc. It brought me to tears...happy tears. I asked her if her Mom had helped and she quickly answered "well, she did buy the binder". I asked her how long it took her to make and she said "a few days, but only because my Mom would make me take breaks". My heart nearly burst. What a sweet girl. How much energy and love she put in to this book. It was priceless to view. She even had a section with all of Rowan's cards to her, pictures he drew her, and his memory cards, etc. She titled that section "Cards and Reminders of Rowan". Here are just a few of her scrapbook pages...
This is Charlotte's scrapbook, she was just sharing it with me, but little does she know, I will carry these precious memories and her beautiful account of them in my heart forever. This is true friendship...a friendship with loss...one where their time together was cut too short...but memories that she still adores, just like I do.
This was one of my very favorite photos that she had in her precious photo album...they were so very little here...ugh... my heartstrings. It is beyond a treasure...
After she and I poured over this beautiful book, we decided it was time to craft! With Valentine's Day just around the corner at the time, she helped me try out all of the art projects I would be doing with the patients and their siblings at the hospital. And as always, she helped me put a special "Charlotte" spin on some of them. She is always so creative!
Sweet girl made a card to represent she and I too:) Adorable!
We ended our playdate the same way we always do, with a cute photo and then a crazy photo... I insist on the first one, and Charlotte insists on the second one, obviously:)
But I love and cherish them both, every single time.
Thanks for being my best little friend Charlotte. Thanks for allowing me to smile, for making me laugh, and for letting me love you.
See you tomorrow sweet girl, when we will make one of our greatest masterpieces ever! Can't wait!
