In Celebration . . .

Lauren and I decided that we had to do something very Emily yesterday in honor of her birthday. On my way to pick Lauren up, I popped in Madonna, Immaculate Collection and jammed out. Seriously, old school Madonna was the standard fall-back cd back in highschool for us. Kate and Emily used to listen to it almost every morning on the way to school, and the four of us have rocked out to it many times during road trips. As soon as Live To Tell came on I started cracking up. This was one of the hundreds of songs Emily had a specific act for. Whenever Madonna would sing "A man can tell a thousand lies" Emily would take her hands and draw them out from her crotch right on the word man.

As soon as Lauren got in, we both sang at the top of our lungs with the music pumping and all the windows and the sunroof down. We drove all over San Francisco, taking in the scenery. We headed into Union Square in order to do some shopping (Emily and I are true Jersey girls in that sense) and scour for Labor Day savings. On the way back home, instead of getting dinner, we stopped at a place that makes homemade ice cream and each had huge cones. The fog came in over the coastal mountains, but no further, so we had a gorgeous sunset from my balcony. Everytime I go to Union Square, I think of her trips out here with us, and the mother-daughter trip Eileen, my mom and all us girls took together. We had so much fun with her anywhere we went, but I'm glad that I live in a place where I can look around and remember specific moments with Emily. Lauren and I love you so much Emily. It's been hard here without you, but I know you're helping me to get through this with your beautiful memories.

- Danielle