Yesterday was my daughter's second birthday!  I can't believe she is already 2.  Where does the time go?  Following tradition, we had our parents and my sister and her husband over for pizza and cake to celebrate her birth.  It was a wonderful evening.

Now it is no secret that I handled (and am handling) my sister's condition very, very poorly.  We are 3 weeks shy of it being a year since the initial incident happened, and I think I can finally say that I am turning a corner with coping.  I noticed this as my parents, sister, and I sat in my backyard yesterday and just chatted.

My mom made the comment of how she wishes we had video tape of how Leslie was when she first came home and how she is now to compare.  I told them that my mind holds very vivid memories of all the different "phases of Leslie" and I can tell them that the Leslie today and the Leslie 11 months ago is a HUGE difference.  Huge.  For instance, we were talking about what my kids would be for Halloween this year.  None of us could remember what Allison was, but LESLIE did!  And last Halloween she wasn't even home yet...she was still a patient in the rehab facility.

Her memories are coming back and her personality is coming back.  She still repeats things, but she is more like the sister I had before the nightmare happened, and it just fills my heart with SO much happiness.

I can imagine September 20 is going to be a very difficult day, rethinking about the events as they occurred, and I do intend to allow myself to be sad during that particular day.  But there on out, September 21 and for the rest of our lives, I will celebrate the fact that SHE DID IT.  She is a survivor. 

I love you so much, Leslie.