Butterflies

Where are all the butterflies?  The first year, they were everywhere.  The second year, I only saw one lone butterfly in April, flying through the Serenity Garden.  This year, the third year, nary a butterfly to be found...

All summer everyone has talked about the butterflies they have seen...the ones that have followed them, the ones that have landed on them, the ones that have appeared the minute they have stepped outside. Sometimes there are more than one and many times they are Monarch butterflies. It's as if they were guardian angels in the guise of butterflies...as if Tiffany were saying:

"I'll be your keeper for life as your guardian
I'll be your warrior of care, your first warden
I'll be your angel on call, I'll be on demand
The greatest honor of all, as your guardian"
-- Alanis Morisette

Sept 16, 2012

Charlotte, NC - June 24, 2012

June 25, 2012

My beloved daughter, Tiffany, sweetly sleeping…

It has been one year since the world as I knew it came to a shattering end.  I didn’t know how I was going to go on and all I could think about was “if only” and all the things I should have, would have, could have done to prevent what happened.  For months, I lived in the shadow world of extreme pain and suffering, hating every minute of being “weak” and feeling as if the grief was going to swallow me whole.

In the meantime, you have been working overtime in Heaven, creating mischief and wreaking havoc with your brother, Jordan, and another little angel called Gabriel.

“Kiss me good-bye, I’m defying gravity” (Elphaba from Wicked)

But, oh, what wondrous things have occurred in the time you’ve been gone.  Who knew that out of great hardship and sadness, amazing things could happen?

For how I can explain the gift of friendship I have known from so many people?  How can I explain the number of people who have watched over me and worried about me and cared about me even when I didn’t want to see the love that surrounded me?  I have been unbelievably fortunate during the most difficult past months and have found new relationships in so many different ways.  My relationship with Troy, Kelly and Hunter has grown ever closer, despite the distance between us.  The hole that was ripped in my heart with your passing has slowly grown smaller, although it will never go away, through these new relationships.  I feel as if I’ve gained a whole other family to love and care about, now that you are no longer here.  For that, I thank you for watching over me and loving me, my sweet one.

I am so glad to have been your Mom for the time you were here and I feel your presence everywhere.  Memories of you are sparked all around me.  How can I ever forget the “milk” story?  That was the time back in 1990 when we arrived back home from the grocery store and you and Troy were helping me bring the groceries in.  All of a sudden, there was milk spilt everywhere and Troy insisting you had done it.  You were so indignant and so hurt when I punished you by not allowing you to wear your new shoes (yes, even then you loved shoes).  Then years later, I found out that it really wasn’t you but Troy who dropped the milk.  Oh my, how awful I felt then but what joy we got out of telling that story.

And what about the story of the Mother’s Day Card?  You were never one to enjoy giving cards for different occasions.  You thought that cards were a waste of money since they eventually ended up in the garbage.  So you resisted giving cards to people, even me.  One day, not too many Mother’s Days ago, we were strolling through a card store, looking for cards when you asked me to read a card that you had picked up.  It was for “Mom” and it was a beautiful and meaningful card for a mother.  I told you how much I liked the card, to which you replied, “I hope you enjoyed it cause it’s your mother’s day card” and proceeded to put the card back into the rack.  Only you could have thought of something so unique.

Yes, you were unique…a one-of-a-kind person, an angel sent by God to grace our lives for a short period of time.  I wish you could have stayed longer and realized all the plans that you had.  One of the plans you had was to build a separate living area for me when you got married.  Not because you wanted to have me close to you so badly, but because you wanted me to take care of your children while you were working.  It wasn’t quite to my liking but I would give my right arm now just for the privilege of seeing you have children and I would embrace the chance to watch over my grandchildren.

There are so many other stories and memories I remember but I’ll save those for another day.  I have the rest of my life to remember you in all your sheer beauty… heart, soul and body.

Thank you for all the miracles of life resulting from what I can only assume is your intervention.  Either that, or you have charmed God, the angels, saints, etc. to give you the help you need.  Whatever the case may be, from the birds and butterflies to the practical things like education loans, I see the hand of Heaven everywhere.

Although I have moved on to a new life without you, clearly divided by the before and after, I have tried to overcome my pain and to be as happy as I know how because I know it is what you would have wanted.  You are there with me every step of the way, in my heart and in my mind, never, ever to be forgotten.

One of the last things that I ever said to you, in a text unfortunately which you never saw, was that I love you more than life itself.  I wonder if you had gotten that text whether the outcome would have been different.  But that is not for me to say so I can only reiterate that I will love you until the end of time, until the day I die.

So I’ll leave you here today with the words of a song that always seems to play on the radio when I’m in the car.  It’s from “If I Die Young” by the Band Perry.

“If I die young, bury me in satin

Lay me down on a bed of roses

Sink me in the river at dawn

Send me away with the words of a love song

Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother

She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh well,

Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no,

Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby”

Always, forever and ever…

Love,

Mom

The Coach Key Chain & a Broken Heart

I watched Phantom of the Opera last night and remembered when we saw it on Broadway with your godmother in NYC.  And the other day, I found your wax hand from Madame Tussaud's, probably from the same trip.  Sometimes I don't think my heart will ever be whole again.  Like the Coach key chain you got me after my first trip to India.  Remember how the crystal fell out of the heart and I put a substitute in?  Well, that one fell out, too.  I have been to every Coach store trying to find one I could take the heart off of but no luck.  I finally found one on ebay that I'm bidding on but, of course, it won't be the same.  My little key chain and I will still have a broken heart.  I love you and miss you so much.

Remembering Tiffany Gallo (Facebook)
August 9, 2011
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wrote this just a month and half or so after you were gone.  The story of the key chain has a somewhat happy ending.  I had exhausted every effort to find the same key chain...it meant so much to me.  Of course, mostly because you had given it to me but also because also because of the reason you gave it to me...for Breast Cancer in memory of your grandmother.  I even went so far as to write to Coach but it was a lost cause.  I ended up buying one from eBay just to get that heart.

However, shortly after I bought the key chain from eBay, a wonderful thing happened.  Nancy and Nicole were in Atlantic City and they found a key chain -- not the same one -- but one that had that pink heart.  That was really the most important part.  Nicole called me and was so excited that at first I didn't know what she was talking about.  When she told me what they had found, I immediately asked  if they could buy it for me.  And they did...because they knew how broken my heart was, not just about the key chain, but about losing you.

 

Upon their return, they came to my house to give me the key chain and Nicole insisted that it was a gift from her.  I was so very touched.  She also gave me a card which brought tears to my eyes, it was so beautiful.  She told me that even though she could never replace you, she was there for me whenever I needed.

  

I haven't yet replaced the heart on the key chain and I don't carry it with me anymore.  I have it tucked away in a safe place...for now.  In the time being, I have little mementos of you that I carry with me.  There's only one key on the chain...the car key.  Everything else is something that reminds me of you.  I have a tag that I gave you for your birthday -- I think it was your 18th -- with your name and Happy Birthday on it.  A Coach key chain that your Jeep key was on with a moon and stars silly band still remaining on it.  There were 3 other silly bands but they have since broken off and gotten lost.  The Breast Cancer heart from Coach that you carried, as well, with a bobby pin clipped onto it.  And lastly the key chain from the funeral home with "In memory of Tiffany Marie" engraved on it.

 

My heart is still broken and will forever be so...

Who Tiffany Was: Part 4 - Daughter

When I started this blog, I thought it was going to be easy to write down my thoughts about Tiffany, her life and the difficult journey to try to recover from this grievous loss.  However, I am finding that the reality is really something quite different.  It's hard and I'm not sure if it's doing any good.  Am I helping myself?  Is this of benefit to anyone reading it?  It feels like I'm writing in a vacuum.  I'm not sure what I expected but I guess I thought I would see some interaction from people reading it although that's certainly not the purpose.  Ah well, I'll try to continue as best I can...

It is now June, 2014.  It is approaching the three-year mark since Tiffany took her life.  Not one day goes by that I don't think of her or cry because she's not here anymore.  Every thought, every picture, every memory leaves me breathless.  I think I've run out of words to describe what it means to lose a child.  I guess there are not enough words in the English language to adequately capture all that it means.

As I look at what I read at her funeral, I see that I have repeated many stories over the past three years.  I guess some of those stories were highlights of the times we spent together but just a fraction of all that comprises my memories of Tiffany.

Tiffany was a rainbow baby, born after the death of her brother, Jordan Alexander.  The pregnancy with her was not any easier than that of Jordan who was lost when my water broke.  It seems that my body was not made for child-bearing as I almost lost her to placenta abruptio.  But she made it through and survived.  For that I am forever grateful because if Jordan had survived, I may not have had Tiffany -- the girl I longed for.  After she was born, she stayed in the hospital for 9 days before I could take her home and for several weeks, the only clothes that would fit her were doll clothes, specifically Cabbage Doll clothes.

At first, she was a quiet baby until she reached the point in time when she had been due to be born.  I remember it was Mother's Day, 1987, (her due date was the same as Jordan's birth date, April 30) and it was like she suddenly woke up and really made herself known.  I guess I had gotten too complacent and thought it was going to be a piece of cake.  That's not to say she was difficult or suffered from colic or anything like that.  It was just that she came into her own. 

Life was interesting with two children.  I returned to work and the children went to day care.  I had spent the time at home making Tiffany's christening dress and we had her baptized.  Summer was approaching and we started to go to camp on the weekends.  We had fun on the holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.  All the things that normal families do, I suppose.

When Tiffany was two and Troy was five, I moved to North Haven, CT to take a management position.  Troy started Kindergarten and the children went to a babysitter, rather than day care.  That was a new experience for them and they made friends with the babysitter's children.  We would often come back to New York as their father had remained here, although he traveled frequently.  But I don't think any of us really warmed to CT so after about a year and a half, I took a leave of absence and returned to Schenectady.  It was shortly after our return that Tiffany decided to cut her hair for the second time but only this time, she really chopped some pieces off short.  I ended up having to have her hair cut in a pixie cut but oh, she looked so cute!  She, however, young as she was, hated her hair that way and never, ever had it that short again.

When she turned five, I enrolled her in ballet, tap and jazz.  Her first teacher, Theresa, was wonderful and Tiffany loved her.  In fact, as much as she could, she followed Theresa wherever she taught so Tiffany ended up taking dance from a few different studios -- Ferrara's, Merritt's, Guilderland Ballet and Meyers Dance Studio.  She lost touch with Theresa for a while there in between but went back to Ferrara's when Theresa ended up there.  And that's where Tiffany finished up her dance "career", all the way through her first year of college.  Her grandmother and I went to every single dance recital faithfully every year.  I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

It's funny because she didn't mind me going to her dance recitals but when it came to cheerleading, that was a different story.  I didn't get to see her cheer as much as I would have liked to since she would really balk at me coming to watch her at games.  Probably the only time I really got to see her cheer was early in Pop Warner, a few of her competitions and when she cheered her sophomore year of high school on the Varsity team and Troy was a senior on the football team.  Tiffany really loved cheerleading and that same year joined an All Star team.  But that, combined with school cheerleading, was a bit much, or so she told me, and she quit the school team.  But she was determined to make a comeback and spent the summer doing gymnastics and honing up on her dance skills, which were already advanced.  Unfortunately, her coach at the time was not very forgiving and despite her skills, placed her on the Junior Varsity squad for her junior year, down from Varsity.  That's kind of the way some school sports programs work, despite trying to talk to the school athletic director and writing the coach a letter (which she never acknowledged).  Tiffany was devastated and ending up quitting...for good.  She never did cheer again after that and I don't think she was ever the same, either.

When Tiffany was in elementary school, it seemed to be hard for her.  In 3rd Grade, there was some talk of keeping her back since she was very behind in reading.  That didn't happen but she was put into remedial reading.  I don't think that ever really helped and then around this time, Tiffany started to develop physically.  It was a very difficult time for her; I tried to involve the teacher so that she would understand what Tiffany was going through.  But I think the other children were very mean.  By the time, Tiffany reached the end of 5th Grade, I knew I had to do something about her reading.  So I enrolled her in The Learning Center.  This was what she needed to turn things around and while she was there, she also got the opportunity to really boost her math skills, which were already advanced.  She entered 6th Grade in good position academically but this is around the time that her eating disorder started.  She stopped developing and growing around this time...due to her eating disorder, I'm sure.  The nutrition doctor thought that she would grow to about 5' 8" which was then revised to 5' 4".  But what really happened is that she never even reached 5' 1".  She was just shy of that mark.

I think it was inevitable.  Food was always an issue with Tiffany, from very early on.  It was like she decided one day that she didn't like anything.  There were so many things that she didn't like and trying to get her to eat healthy food was nearly impossible.  She liked only a few things and sweets was one of them.  The number of times that I found Fruit Roll-up wrappers stuffed in the couch are too numerous to count.  This was such a concern but there is nothing you can do to make someone eat, short of forcing it down their throat which I wasn't prepared to do.  For years, I feared the worst might happen...it was always lying there under the surface, always thinking that she was at risk for this disease.  When she wrote a paper on anorexia, we talked about her paper and eating disorders but she lied and put my fears to rest.  But the demon, bulimia, was there lurking and working, just waiting for me to find out a few years later.

But despite her issues, Tiffany forged ahead and she met the challenge of high school head-on.  She did phenomenally well, especially in Math and Science.  In fact, Chemistry was probably her best subject and I tried to encourage her to think about becoming a pharmacist but that just sounded too boring to her (as if accounting was any more exciting).  From a discouraging start in elementary school to a GPA of nearly 3.7 in high school and the same in college with a small 4-year scholarship in a state school (a bit unheard of), she then went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude and obtained her Master's in Tax, tuition-free (as part of the scholarship).

Both my children are/were my pride and joy.  I am so proud of them and what they both accomplished in life.  Troy is the most amazing father and a wonderful son and husband.  But oh, Tiffany could have accomplished much, much more, if only she had somehow found a way to work things through.  But boys and girls are different and Tiffany was like my best friend.  We had a lot in common and she took after me a lot.  Not that Troy doesn't...cause he does!  However, each child has their special bond with their mother.  She was my baby (as Troy will always be my "little man"...sorry, Troy!).  She relied on me in a way that Troy did not and I relied on both of them in certain ways as well.  Tiffany and I shared a love of reading, of shopping, of dance and many other things.  Her leaving has left a huge void in my life that I'm trying to fill but it is proving to be the greatest challenge of my existence.

Today, I am remembering those 10 days that I spent with Tiffany at her apartment in Stamford, CT from June 2 to June 12, 2011.  They were so different from those days that I spent with her after she got out of the hospital in October 2010.  This time, she wanted me there and during those irreplaceable 10 days, I felt closer to her than I ever did before.  I am forever sorry that I didn't stay when I returned from North Carolina as I wanted to but I am forever grateful for those precious moments out of time...

My darling, my beloved Tiffany,

My heart is breaking and I don’t know how I am going to pick up the pieces.  I feel this is a bad dream from which I only have to awake.

You and your brother are the light of my life but you occupied a special place in all of our hearts.  Like most parents, I can remember the day you were born as if it were yesterday and the indescribable love that I felt for you from the moment I held you in my arms.  Your determination showed even then and you couldn’t even wait the full term to be born.  You were so small that we had to dress you in Cabbage Patch doll clothes.  But you proved you were strong and soon you were doing all the things a normal baby does.

Sometimes I feel that we were never really separated when you were born.  There was always some invisible string that held us together.  Now the string is broken, irreparable, some part always to be missing.

It was an utter joy to watch you grow up.  I remember the day I bought the 50^th anniversary edition of the “Wizard of Oz” and from that moment on, you kept watching it over and over and over until you finally wore the VHS tape out and I had to buy you a new one.  I remember the first day you went to dance class and how your Grandmother and I went to every single dance recital all the way through to your Graduation dance in your sequined gown on the stage of Proctor’s to watch how beautifully you danced.  I’ll never forget how desperately you wanted to join the Pop Warner Cheerleaders when you were 8, which I suspect was because your brother was in Pop Warner, too.  And I was so proud when you went on to cheerlead in high school on the Junior Varsity and Varsity squads.

And how can I forget all the trips we took: Hawaii, Disneyland, Dollywood, Disney World and the Great Escape (every year); how much you loved to go to camp in Sacandaga and the overnight Girl Scout camps, even though I thought for sure you would be calling me to come get you; how you were determined to graduate early from high school and start college early and how I drove every weekend to Marist College to pick you up and bring you back because it was all just a little too much for you.

And I would gladly do it all again 10 times over if it meant you would still be here.  You were such a joy (even if your “evil” twin, as you called her, did make an appearance occasionally).  Your beauty, your soul, your mind, your heart just shone through – you were one-of-a-kind, a special angel.  I don’t think you ever realized just how special you were, how many lives you touched, how good you were, how much you helped, not only me, but so many other people.  Even animals, especially cats, like that special Duke you found on your wheel well and I thought you would never leave behind.

Now, we all have to go on but the hurt is nearly unbearable.  I can’t express how much I will miss you.  I am going to miss our shopping trips together, when you always wanted to make my fashion decisions for me; going to see “Wicked” on this past Mother’s Day in NYC; or sitting at home, you watching “Ratatouille” until I thought I would go crazy.  I’ll miss you climbing into bed as a kid because you didn’t like your own and as you grew older, the need to nestle with me never left you.  I’ll miss our trips to the nail salon to have our manicures and pedicures, when you always would be done before me.  I’m going to regret not getting calls from you nearly every day, almost always when I was on a conference call and you asking me what I thought about this or that.  I can remember coming home from Charlotte just last week, you rushing out to greet me, Riley in hand, your hair twisted up with a mischievous smile and your face glowing.  Now I’ll never forget the sound of your voice, the sight of your beautiful face and the feel of your arms around me.  But most of all it’s going to be hard to know that you will never find the happiness you were so desperately seeking or the family of your own that you so often longed for.  To know that I will never see you fulfill your unbelievable potential or walk down the aisle to meet the man of your dreams for that fairy-tale wedding at a remote location or even have children, it is unimaginable. It breaks my heart now to know that you and I will never be reunited together again in one place with your brother and his family.  But I know that somewhere in this world, some physical part of you still lives on and I will have to take some small comfort in that.

It seems so odd to me that life is still going on when, for me, it’s as if life has stopped.  My life as I know it came to a complete end on Saturday when I found you.  When I touched your arm and shoulder and it was cold and stiff.  That’s when I knew you were gone.  And the world should have stopped at that moment because you had left it.

There is so much I want to say to you, Tiffany, but there’s just not enough time to say it all today, not even the “milk” story.  So I just want to close here with some words from the song “Over the Rainbow” from your favorite movie.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

I will love you always, forever and ever.

Mom

The Mysterious Plants...a Sign?

Tiffany, I want you to be alive so much that it is a crippling physical pain, a shot to the heart.  And even after 3 years, I still cannot make peace with myself about it.

The other day I lay on your grave and begged God to take me.  I felt as if life was nothing but a travesty, filled with hopelessness and helplessness.  I wanted so much to be with you and Jordan and my mother...I am not afraid to die.  I just don't want to actively seek it...I would prefer that it happen passively.  I wonder what purpose I serve here on this earth; what is my reason for existing in this half-life.

So I lay there in the darkest despair, waiting for some sign that my wish would be granted.  I waited for an indication that my deepest desire had been heard...something.  But there was only silence to be found.  Finally, I understood that no prayers would be answered this day so I stood up and started walking, trying to find some peace.  I walked the perimeter of the cemetery before arriving back at the family headstone.

With sadness weighing heavily on my shoulders, no peace or solace to be had, I drove back home.  The next day, I decided to go to the nearby nursery to buy some plants for your lovely Serenity Garden.  I made my purchases and drove back home.  I emptied the car and carried my "fairy" plants (small plants for a terrarium) onto the porch.  I showed them off to Paul, at the same time lamenting that I had forgotten to buy some coleus plants to plant near the flowering dogwood.  I set the cardboard box of plants on the porch and carried the begonias I had bought over to the evergreen tree.  I came back and sat down when I noticed something odd.  There were two coleus plants in the cardboard box!

Now this was impossible.  I had carried the cardboard box of plants out of the store myself and there were no coleus plants in that box.  I had set the box down but for a minute on the cart with my other purchases to load up the car but I had never picked out or chosen or set any of these plants into the box or car.  In fact, I hadn't given them any thought until I got home.  Yet there they sat in the box.  Where did these plants come from? Because I surely hadn't selected them.

Well, Paul swears that they are a sign from my lost loved ones.  A sign that I am meant to stay in this world for some purpose as yet unknown.  It certainly is strange that these two  plants that I hadn't picked out should appear just moments after I remembered them.

There's a very special garden

Where the trees of memory grow

Nurtured by the kindness

And concern that good friends show.

The roots are cherished memories

Of good times in the past

The branches tender promises

That souls endure and last.

It's a place of peace and beauty

Where bright new hopes can start

It's memory's lovely garden

That soothes the hurting heart.