Which story should I share about the sunny, loving, spark plug, MacKenzie? I could write about the time that we all went to the circus together and Sierra and MacKenzie lined up, giggling and nervous, as a clown jumped over their bald heads. Or maybe I should share the story of the super-fun time that our family and her family piled into a stretch limo together and drove to the area high school to watch a production of High School Musical which was based on my daughter Sierra's very favorite movie. Or all the times in the hospital Sierra and MacKenzie would go visit each other, whoever was feeling the strongest and least worn out by chemo running over to see the one who needed to stay in bed that day. There were thoughtful presents exchanged to make hospital and recovery times more bearable. And the hugs! So many hugs shared. MacKenzie's signature wrap-around-you-like-a-monkey-on-a-tree hugs. Hugs with no equal.
There were dinners, and birthday parties, and board games, and nail painting, and surgical mask blinging sessions, and movies.
There was the final time we visited MacKenzie when she was on hospice at home, and when it came time for us to leave, my son, who loves Kenzie as he loves no other, said he didn't want to go and wanted to sleep on the floor by her bed in the living room so he could help her with anything she might need.
There are so many funny, great, bittersweet, heartwarming memories to chose from, but one that especially makes me smile is the time Kenzie came to Sierra's birthday party at Kiss N' Makeup in kitschy Hampden. Kenzie was undergoing treatment and had been inpatient and in isolation for a long stretch. She was pretty pale and not feeling the strongest, and in one of her adorable bald phases. The party was at a salon in a famous Hon section of Baltimore, so we stopped over to a shop down the road and got Kenzie a big, black beehive wig to surprise her. She got all dolled up with a glamor makeover and sashayed around in her huge beehive all afternoon, laughing, striking poses for the camera, being the light in the world she always was, regardless of the medical struggles she faced.
We feel so lucky that we got to know all of the incredible members of the Stuck family, and hold each of them in our hearts with the most tender love.
Thank you for sharing MacKenzie with us and being our friends. She changed us all and we are grateful. We think and speak of Kenzie often, and when I do, I glance down at the M tattooed on my wrist and smile.
Miss you tons and tons, sweetheart.
