I‘m obviously grateful to Mark for countless things (most of all, for staying by my side & living in a way, so he can always be there for me), but as I was watching this video (https://www.mormon.org/easter/principles-of-peace/gratitude), & I wanted to express gratitude to my kids for some small deeds they did the 1^st year after my stroke…things they may be unaware of:

Zach: When I came home from the hospital, he gave me a card.It read, “Gary the Get Well Gorilla wants you to getwell soon!”  Inside said,  “And you better do what Gary says!”  Zach wrote, “Gary says if you exersz (exercise) you get better.”  Whenever things got tough, or I was tired, I kept going, cuz Gary (Zach) said I should!

In addition, there was a morning when I entered the kitchen, & found him at the breakfast table, studying a Sesame Street book about sign language.  I was touched when he explained that he “wanted to learn how to talk to mom.”

Jessie: every night, she’d come into my room, pull a chair over to my bedside, sit down & twirl, entertain me, & just talk my ear off!  Such a simple thing, but it meant so much!  It was the brightest part of each day!

Sophie: She was so young (only 2 years old), that she did not understand (like Zach & Jessie did), that I could do nothing when she got hurt. So she would cry for me & want to be put on my lap to “kiss her owie better.”  I could not even pucker or lift her hurt limb to my mouth, so she did it…& somehow, I still gave her “magic kisses!”