Christina

I have a very big family, on all sides.  My mom's side is also very young...my mom is the oldest of 8.  So I have two uncles and an aunt that are younger than me, Mark is the youngest and he'll turn 20 in May.  Seven days into the new year, my mom called around 5:30 a.m. and at that time is usually not good.  My youngest aunt (my mom's youngest sister) had passed away very unexpectedly.  Chrissy had just turned 21.  Mom left for Sioux City that morning, my sisters and dad left the next day.  I however couldn't leave until after the KU game that Wednesday and of course that would be the one home game that went into overtime.  We left right after the game and got in around 3 am.  

Visitation was Thursday evening and Jaris was super grumpy and tired from the night before so Brett took him back to the hotel so he could play and get to bed on time.  The entire night was very surreal, there really are no words.  Chrissy died of MRSA-Pneumonia.  A very dangerous and fast moving form of pneumonia combined with the already dangerous MRSA. 

The funeral was Friday and it was a beautiful service.  The church was full and the burial was crowded as well.  It was very hard to say goodbye and it was even harder to watch my grandparents bury their youngest daughter.

We went back to the church to eat and it was so nice to see all of my family, even under the circumstances.  Brett and I had a hotel room next to my dad and sisters.  Brett and my dad decided to head back to Lawrence in my dads car and I would just bring my sisters and Jaris home the next night.  Brett and dad left and it was time for JT's nap, the girls and I were tired as well so we all decided to nap and then head to my grandparents when he woke up.  

A few hours later we were all up and had our coats on ready to head over to my grandparents, however I couldn't find my keys.  Suddenly I had a thought that Brett could've possibly taken them, so my sister called him and sure enough they were in his pocket.  He was already 3 1/2 hrs away.  I wasn't the happiest wife on earth at that point in time...  

An hour later a locksmith came to the hotel to unlock my car so I could get the car seat and my purse out.  My cousin picked us up and mom dropped us off at the end of the night.  The next morning I drove her car to the Nissan dealership where my dad said they can make me a new key.  They informed me they needed the car in order to make a key.  So back to the hotel I went, called a towing company, and had them take my car.  Almost 2 hours later and over $200 spent, I finally had a key.  Brett felt really bad and I wasn't all that happy to be spending my last day with my family at a car dealership.

After spending the rest of the day with our family the girls, Jaris, and I headed home around 8.  I came home to a spotless house and all the laundry done.  That helped to make up for key incident :)

It's still hard to believe that she is gone.  It's hard to watch my family try to cope with everything.  I check her facebook page all the time and it's so heartbreaking to read the posts from my family and her friends but at the same time it's healing to both read and write on her wall.  We miss her everyday, she loved her family, her friends, KU, and she will forever apart of our hearts.