Stacey. Water bender. Mean Aunt Extraordinaire.

This is Stacey. Ignore Athena... she likes to lick. Stacey came into our lives in November of 2007 at a time when I needed her most. We went from acquaintances to inseparable in the span of a weekend. And we weren't even in the same state that weekend! That was the year Dylan was about to turn 2. He doesn't remember a time before her. Ali barely does.

Stacey is an EMT/firefighter, though she is taking a break from that right now and going to school to become an EKG tech. She loves to read and draw, and she and Dylan share a love of video games. She also loves history and loves to share it with the kids. She and Dylan are always watching youtube videos about history and also how things were done throughout history. This fascinates her, and she loves teaching him. Her dream is to be an archaeologist someday.

Stace loves to cook. She's constantly coming up with new things for us to try, or new versions of the things we already eat. Her current favorite thing to cook and eat is stuffed peppers. Again this is great because I hate to cook. She likes road trips and travelling, too.

Anyhow.

Here's a picture of us in 2008. Fourth of July at her parents. Eric had to work that year so after visiting him we had dinner with her parents. This became tradition!

Here we are the winter of '09

We've had so much fun together, and been through so much together. When I decided I wanted to learn photography, she was my first photo shoot even though she HATES having her picture taken. 

Here she is with Ali that day.

She has not only watched my kids grown up, but has been there through it all. She's been to more gymnastics practices and soccer games, more ER visits and doctors appointments, gone on more shopping trips and helped with more school projects than some real parents ever do. She's taken the kids to the movies and built them fires. She taught Dylan to skate and how to put up a tent. They have a very special bond, those two. 

I honestly don't know what we would do without her. When things got bad around here, she didn't have to stay, but she did. She cooks when Eric isn't here. On the bad days, she drives Dylan to school. When I am having trouble walking, she helps me around, brings me my walker. She runs errands when needed and always goes grocery shopping with me because I can't go alone anymore. She deals with homework, which is her literal enemy, and helps when one of the kids or I am crashing. She was with me when I shaved me head, and offered to shave hers too.

I don't know how we would have survived without her. I can't imagine our lives without her. I am so, so glad to have her. She'll be forever my partner in crime.

Update: I've been given permission to share about Stacey's chronic illness. She's struggled with major depressive disorder since middle school. It is a never ending beast of a fight, but she continues to step up to the battle, sometimes with nothing but a stick to beat it off with. Therapy and medication have been so helpful, and we continue to make sure those things are available to her and that she takes advantage of them. Sometimes it's hard to see the rainbow for the rain, but she's still looking.