A Mother's Journey

Sarah Channing can't remember the last time she saw her daughter alive.It was so long ago.She can still see Taipei's face,though.Round,with a little put-put nose and a tiny mouth.She looked like a doll.Everyone called her Barbie.
Sarah remembers Taipei's funeral in Mobile,Alabama.It was meant to be a small,family-oriented service,but soon,strangers began to appear,and soon enough,so did the press.
Taipei laid in her casket.A cotton-colored one picked out by her father Jackson.She wore a beautiful light blue dress granny picked out from the small children's boutique on the corner.She had on a necklace that was diamond encrusted with her name.She was an angel.
At the cemetery,at least three hundred people passed Taipei's tiny casket and put some kind of memorabilia,whether it be a flower or small toy.Grandpop,who spent every waking minute of his life with Taipei,pinned a picture of her on the cotton casket.
She was lowered.Six feet below the ground,little 6-year-old Taipei Channing was at rest,and she could finally sleep a sleep that the world had put her in to.Her body had already been poked and prodded at the morgue,no more exhumations,no more autopsy pictures,nothing.Taipei would get to rest.Sarah made sure of that.
It took six months for Taipei's grave marker to be made,so pictures and flowers were put there instead.It made the family mad.How would anyone know where Taipei was buried?How would anyone remember her name if it wasn't on a solid rock or if it wasn't repeated on the news and in magazines?That's why her grave marker was needed,and when it finally came,there was no anger,only hurt and pain.Now,Taipei Shyanne was finally dead.

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Jackson Channing arrived home from a day of work at his company.He was tired,and grew concerned when his wife didn't answer to his calls.Jackson searched for her,and found her by the flower bed.She was staring at nothing.Her eyes were blank,a dull gray.
"Honey,didn't you hear me calling you?"Jackson asked his wife.
She shook her head."No,I'm sorry.I was just thinking about something."
"Taipei?"
Sarah nodded."How did you know?"
Jackson sat down beside his wife."Because I thought about her today,too."
Sarah turned to face her husband.He rarely admitted he thought about Taipei since her death.He wanted to be'the man of the family',the one to hold everything together,and if he failed at that,he failed his family.They'd break apart.
Sarah needed him especially now since she was suffering from leukemia.Chemotherapy was hard enough on her.She didn't need to be thinking about something that would put her down.
Jackson held his wife's face in his hands."Poor,baby.Why do you torture yourself and think about Taipei when you know she isn't coming back?"
Sarah shrugged."Maybe it's because I truly do think she's coming back."
Jackson shook his head in disappointment."Sarah,our daughter is gone for good.And if she were here right now,she'd want you to do everything in your power to stay healthy."
Sarah became enraged."You make it seem like I shouldn't die!"
"You shouldn't!"
"Everyone dies at some point in their life,Jackson,and fortunately,when I die,my daughter is up there waiting for me to do so."