Although Christina has left us much too soon, I am incredibly grateful for the time that we had together, the close relationship we shared and the memories that remain. So many of my memories are just snapshots in time; Christina was always the storyteller, not me, but I will always treasure the beautiful memories I have of her. Growing up with Christina is a time full of special memories. We would spend our time roaming through the fields, the trees and the old buildings that made up the farm. We explored all the wonders the farm had to offer us, like the spring time we found dozens of bright yellow marsh marigolds growing in the trees near our house. We built our forts the LCL and Fort city in the trees and developed an elaborate escape route from them in case of emergency, an escape route that took us at least three times as long as necessary to get out of the trees and was much too complicated for us to actually remember. We spent hours playing in our play house, making "mushroom soup" out of water, mushrooms, leaves, twigs and dirt, then leaving it covered for a few weeks to rot. We climbed trees, sang songs at the top of our lungs while standing on the roof of our playhouse, and pretended we were members of a gang named Leather and Lace, throwing pine cones to defend our playhouse against invisible gang enemies outside. We searched for frog eggs and pussy willows in the spring, climbed and jumped on hay bales in the summer, played in piles of leaves in the fall and made snow forts and even one year an igloo in the winter. Christina gave me useful advice like the time we were trying to cross a ditch filled with water that was too wide for me to jump across and she told me that if I just ran really fast through it I wouldn't get wet. It didn't work. Christina loved to explore from an early age. There used to be an old abandoned house on a neighbouring property that we could see from our house in Mayerthorpe. Christina came up with the idea that we should explore it, so we asked permission from Dad to go see it, who in turn got permission from our neighbor for us to go in. I was filled with trepidation the day we went -- Christina had convinced me we might find literal skeletons in the closets. Instead of skeletons the most interesting thing we found was an old butter mold. I was disappointed with the experience, but Christina was fascinated by the remnants left behind by the people who had once lived there. When we lived in Calgary, we used to explore the city together, occasionally going into office buildings to see if we could find a place with a good view of the city. Sometimes we would go down by the river, where she would make a pot of soup out of the food she had brought down in her backpack. That was Christina, always exploring, always ready to whip up a good meal. When I was in university we kept up a correspondence via mail. She would send me photos of Shelby and gush about all of Shelby's recent achievements of first words and first steps, I would tell her about classes and my new city. There were a couple of times after I had finished university when I lived with Christina, Mike and Shelby for a few months. On nights when I worked late, I would come home to a plate of food she had saved for me from dinner, and we would stay up late playing Gabriel Knight, a computer quest game about a so-called shadow hunter who battled the forces of voodoo and werewolves. We spent hours playing that first Gabriel Knight game, then the second, and then the third. I checked recently, and there may be a fourth Gabriel Knight coming out. I know of no other person who would be as excited to hear that news as I was. On her many trips to New York we took her to see all kinds of things the city and surrounding area had to offer. Central Park, Times Square, the Empire State building. On one trip we took Christina and Avram to Philadephia to see the Liberty Bell, we ate Philly cheesesteaks at Geno's, which we were told was *the* place to get a cheesesteak in Philly, and we learned a new word: mummers. Christina was a butterfly landing pad at the Museum of Natural History, built a circus ring for the resident cockroaches in our apartment, relaxed on the Jersey Shore, sat on a stranger's lap at a Broadway play, sent her dinner back to the kitchen at Ruby Foo's because it contained cilantro and she watched the ball drop in Times Square, something that I never did in my five years in the New York area. Together we went to see the musical Chicago, my favourite musical, and I hazard to guess that it became her favourite that day as well. Later on when we went on road trips, I would make sure to bring the soundtrack. Christina and I could sing along to every word of every song, and would proceed to do so, much to Shelby's embarrassment in the back seat. When Sean and I lived in Edmonton I used to see her nearly every Saturday when we would go to the Old Strathcona farmer's market together. Afterwards we would sometimes explore the river valley. She often wanted to go off the beaten path and unlike her I just never seemed to be wearing appropriate shoes for scaling the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. When Shelby was visiting, we enjoyed many in depth discussions about the recent developments in the wizarding world with Harry Potter and the interest Shelby and I had in the books and movies kindled an interest in Christina as well. When we lived in Kelowna, many of the times I saw her were when she was just passing through town on a Greyhound bus bound for somewhere. Whereas many other people would complain about such long bus rides, she was always perfectly content. She would let me know in advance when she would be passing through and I would take Andrew to the bus depot to visit with Auntie Keena for the 20 or 30 minutes until her bus left again. She would always have snacks, a journal and her iPod packed away in her bag and she was good to go. Christina was someone who took a keen interest in the world around her. I was the A student in high school but she was the true lifelong learner, always exploring her interests with a passionate zeal that would make her an expert on any topic she set her sights on. Many people repeat the phrase "carpe diem" or "seize the day", but she truly lived it. She had a way of enjoying every moment, seldom complaining, always finding something of interest to examine or something to do to take advantage of whatever came her way. I have several pictures from the past few years of Christina with Andrew, where they are both crouched down examining a few blades of grass, some rocks or a tidal pool. On our last visit with her we were at a beach in Stanley Park. Christina had found a baby crab she was holding in the palm of her hand for Andrew to see. He was curious, but every time she would put it on his hand to hold, he would jerk his hand away, afraid it would pinch him. I remember thinking that Andrew really needed to spend more time with his Auntie Christina, and he would soon move past those fears. I am deeply saddened that it is not to be, but still thankful for the fun times he did spend with her, even if it was only a few short years that he knew her. When I reflect on the times we spent together, one of the things that is always foremost in my mind is her sense of humor and the way she could make me laugh. From the nights we spent as kids sharing a room at Grandma’s house when we did more giggling than sleeping, to the last night we spent at Dad’s farm before he moved away, when we were feeling a little sad and a lot sentimental but we laughed so hard the tears rolled down our cheeks. Spending time with Christina I would never know what adventure would come our way next, but whatever happened I knew it would include a lot of laughter. Christina liked to find unexpected ways to show her affection, and she was generous with her time and energy. One year for my birthday I received a tape recording with Christina and Shelby singing happy birthday to me. Or, rather, Christina sang the Beatles song “Birthday” (you know the one – “today is your birthday do-do-do-do-do-do it’s my birthday too yeah”) and Shelby sang “C is for Cookie”. It made my day. For Christmas one year she sent me a box of shortbread cookies in the mail from Edmonton to Jersey City. She once picked a bouquet of wildflowers for Andrew in Creston and brought it with her on the bus to give it to him on one of her Kelowna layovers. She made regular trips out to Creston to visit our Mom, and while there Christina would spend hours helping her with the work that needed to be done around her home. When a job needed to be done Christina was the first person to pitch in to help and the last person to stop to rest. I am surprised at how few photos I took of her in recent years. I always thought I would have so much more time with her. Years. Decades. I lived with her for a few times in my twenties and somehow I always imagined that we would live together again in our old age. I'd prevent her from becoming the crazy cat lady and she would keep me laughing well into my golden years. I may not be able to share a laugh with her anymore, but I will always remember her smiling and laughing, telling a good story. The many wonderful memories I have will make me smile and I will know that my life was made much richer by having had my sister to share so much of it with me.