One year.

One year has passed by us since that Friday last fall when my Grandma Dalene passed into Heaven. I don't believe that a single day has gone by when I haven't thought of her. Sometimes it is a warm memory that brings a smile to my face, and sometimes it is a pang at my heart to know that I can't share something with her, but still, she is never far from my mind and always a part of my heart.

When I came home from the time we spent in Tabor last year saying goodbye to Grandma I had a note in the mail from my mother-in-law Sandi. In it she included the For Better or Worse cartoon from the Thursday paper, one day before my grandma passed away, September 13th, 2007.

Leila was so little when Grandma died, she won't remember knowing her, she won't remember her hugs. We have pictures of her around our home, and she can pick her out of a picture and knows that is her Grandma, but she will never know her like I hoped she would.

Leila loved the horse that hung in Grandma's kitchen, and when we were visiting last July Grandma took down the horse and told me to take it home for Leila to have. That horse is hanging inside my front door, so we all see it everyday when we leave and come home. Taped to the back of the horse is the cartoon that Sandi gave to me.