October 17th...

     Eight years ago a precious little girl was born. A little girl whose smile brought joy, whose attitude was amazing, and who loved meeting, and her family and friends. A little girl whose situation sometimes seemed hopeless and sad to those close to her, but when you saw her in action, you saw hope.

     Kasaundra Rose Corcoran was her name, and she is the oldest child of Sandra and Bradley Corcoran. Many mistakes took place during her birth, resulting in a prolonged hospital stay and a departure with seizure meds in hand and the knowledge that little Kasaundra had cerebral palsy. She managed to battle her seizures and cerebral palsy, learning how to crawl, sit, walk with a walker. She was so smart. She was amazing!! She was my best buddy.

    I can't remember when it started getting really bad. But eventually the seizures became almost constant. If it wasn't a physical seizure that you could see, it was a mental one. She often couldn't remember my name when I stayed with them for 6 weeks after Brayden's birth. And took to calling me "this one." *Grin* I still remember the sound of that sweet little voice saying, "This one's turn." :) And although she knew her colors she sometimes couldn't remember them and would guess which was which.

     I remember the last time I saw her. They had come to my parents house for a gtg and I remember Sandra brought her in and she was having one of the weird siezures where her eyes would stay glued to some spot on the ceiling and she would be unresponsive. and I had taken her and held her on my lap and talked to her hoping that something would get through. I remembered the first time I had seen one of these types. I had been so afraid, I had wanted her back, and in an effort to do so I had began to play peekaboo with her. Laying her cloth on her face and then pulling it off until finally I had gotten a twitch that looked like a smile, with hope I had done it again and again until a little hand, slowly, slowly reached up and pulled it off. And so that day I sang to her, I played with her until finally she broke through. I remember Megan asking if I wanted to go outside with her, and saying that no I wanted to stay with Kasaundra. I remember wondering why I didn't just go outside, but for some reason I just felt this need to hold her and try to get through to her.

    I hope that she considered me a best bud, because she definitely was one of mine.

   I remember the phone call early on a Sunday morning that woke me in a sleeping bag on Tia's bedroom floor. I remember that sunday meeting, crying during hymns and prayer, barely getting my testimony out. I remember going to Sandra parents after meeting and just holding each other. I remember taking baby Brayden to meeting with me so that Sandra could get some sleep. I remember the Barndts sat in front of me (a silly detail), and when Brayden woke crying I remember feeling thankful for something to do that would help me not cry.

   And then when I got home I remembered a poem that I had started writing one day in my room about Kasaundra and had then stored away with the thought that I would probably never need to finish it. And so I opened it and finished a poem. A tribute to a loving daughter and sister, a real princess, a real sweetheart, and a very precious friend to many.

and here it is.

A poem about my Kasaundra

My sweet little Kasaundra Rose,

I remember little things

like her blowing her nose,

silly things like her not so little shouts,

and even her stubborn lil' pouts.

And how she loved to hear

about the monkeys jumping on the bed

and how they fell and bonked their heads.

She would be the doctore,

shake her finger and tell them "No!"

Her voice was strict and sometimes

quiet and kind of low.

She was definitely cute as a bug,

and gave some of the most awesome hugs.

Her kisses were usually big and wet,

but that didn't keep them from

 being the best you met.

I'll always cherish the memory

of her shouting out, "BOO!"

and how her sweet voice said "I wuv you."

I'll always remember her "pat-pat" hugs,

and how she "hopped" across the rug.

She was really sweet

to everyone she did meet,

and we all thought

she was pretty neat.

We'll remember and miss Kasaundra for many years,

and we'll probably always shed a few tears.

But we are thankful for our time with her until to God she did return

And for the many lessons that through her we did learn