Dear Jim and Cheryll: It has been my vast privilege to have known Norma. The reasons aren't always clear, but certain clients make lifelong impressions on caregivers. Such was Norma for me. As I think about it, she marked me partly by being related to you two wonderful people and your wonderful children. But then there was the woman herself, a woman who was proud of herself, proud of her family, and very much in love with her family. When she told me of her very great thrill at becoming a mother, a thing she thought would never happen, I felt her passion. While she seemed to me to be a very practical woman, she was also funny, and warm, intelligent, and devoted to those she loved. Her description of how she grew from being a dutiful wife in her first marriage to being a woman who knew what she wanted and went for it in the second, I felt surprise, pleasure and pride at her capacity for personal growth in a generation of women who often feared or didn't even recognize the option to take that step. It has been a gift to have known Norma. I'm so sorry that you have lost her. I'm thinking of you, and especially Autumn. Dear girl, don't let the loss of your precious grandmother affect your schooling. Her pride in your accomplishments was keen indeed. Sincerely, Lynne Holmes