WHAT CHILDREN REMEMBER

Eleven years ago today my 7-year-old niece wrote this at school about beloved C, who had died the previous February. Her parents found it in her work at a parents' evening and sent me a copy. I was so pleased then, and still am, to see what C meant to her and what she thought was important about him. In fact he went through periods of severe depression, and could be very morose and pessimistic, as well as very funny, but kids never saw that in him. He absolutely loved playing with them and would always give them as much time as they wanted. The night he died, our 8-year-old grandson said on the phone "I bet it's not any fun any more without Grandpa", and his 6-year old sister said that Grandpa always made everything fun. They're all adults now, and only have hazy memories of him, but at least they're good ones.