Family: Lauren

Lauren was a special girl, right from the start: sweet, kind, loving and very smart. She has a subtle, wicked sense of humor, too! Sometimes you have to think about it before you realize she just made a joke.

I remember holding her in my arms while sitting in church during the Sunday sermon. We’d be giggling and cracking jokes with each other until her mother “yelled” at us in sign language from up in the choir loft. My signing isn’t that good, but I can at least get us both in trouble!

Another memory of mine is when we all went down to Los Angeles for our friend Lisa’s wedding. Lauren was 4 years old at the time; her sister was 6. Their mother was in the wedding so spent a lot of time prior to the event with the wedding party, planning and practicing – which meant I spent most of my time babysitting the girls. One day in particular I was not feeling very good and was quite snippy with the girls. Later that evening, the entire wedding party and all their families were out in the parking lot arguing over where to go for dinner. I had enough so walked away from the crowd and sat down at a secluded park bench.

Lauren walked over, sat down next to me, and quietly asked, “Are you in time out?”

“I need it, don’t I?” I sighed.

She just put her little arm around me and sat there in silence with me.

My all time favorite memory of her as a little girl, however, is having her walk beside me holding my hand. She would look up at me and say, “Aunt Ruthie, are you so happy?”

And I would look down at her and say, “Yes, Lauren. I am so happy.”