The Virtual Memorial Garden

I am proud to make this memorial for my Aunt Karen Stevens. She is the mother of 3 wonderful children, and was a great mother and wife, she was married to Michael Stevens. She was very pretty, and died at only 55. When she was in her very early 50's she got Breast Cancer. She was a strong Woman, and with many treatments, and therapies, she beat the disease that is so robbing to our society. She loved my drawings, and though I am only 13, I have a twin sister and we would make drawings of our whole family together. Her daughter Suzanne, who is now almost 30, had a baby named Melanie with her husband, Mark. Karen lived about 1 year of Melanie's life. She always had bad lungs, but she had to carry around tubes and air pumps in her house that went up her nose, I felt terrible for her. Her immune system was very very low, she would get very close to death even from just the common Cold. I was never aware of how serious her breathing problems were. Usually she stayed home, and rested because she was always so tired. My grandparents, who are very loving, Jeanne and Keith, wanted to take her and her husband, Michael on a cruise to the Caribbean islands for her birthday. My grandma felt bad asking because she knew it would be hard for Karen since her illness, but Karen wanted more than anything to go on it. She did go on it, but again was very tired and usually slept on it. The last day of the cruise, Her husband Michaels and her parents Jeanne and Keith came into her room and invited her to breakfast. She said no, that she was too tired & that they should go without her. They did. When they returned her husband tried to wake her. He even slapped the side of her face gently to see if she was still alive. Turns out, that she died. She had died from raising levels of a certain chemical in her blood overnight, which her body's immune system couldn't handle. Everyone in my family was distraught and sad. At her funeral, I cried and cried and cried. It was hard to see her leave us, I just didn't want to. I remember both me and my aunt were very competetive so we would always play board games to see who won, and we would sometimes even use both our great skills to master a certain 1000 piece puzzle. I can still smell her favorite flowers when I go into her house to visit my cousins and my Uncle Michael. It's hard to realize she is gone, I don't want to believe it. She was buried in Toledo, Ohio, her hometown, at the Sylvania Memorial Cemetary. I visit it occasionally, but it's hard, I just like to remember her in my thoughts. Another thing was she loved Gardens, so we made a huge memorial garden for her with a wooden park bench at the local park, it is very pretty. I try to remember Karen as the Most loving Mother, Aunt, Grandmother, Cook, Gardener and Friend as possible. She is in my heart, and Karen if you can hear me, I miss you, I love you, and we will meet again Someday. I also had a Hamster die that I loved more than life itself, so visit the pet memorials under "S" to see about Scioto Marsh. DON'T EVER FORGET KAREN <3.