To Nicole

A very special young lady graduated from high school yesterday. Her mother lived with us back in the 80's when she was an exchange student from Mexico. After returning to Mexico, Irene was courted by a fine young Trenton boy and later they were married and returned to Trenton. Nicole is their daughter. We weren't close to her until she fought a major battle with an illness and was in and out of the North Kansas City hospital.

So, you see, she's like a granddaughter to me --- and such a beautiful young woman. I wrote this poem on the way home from a visit to Trenton in March.

To Nicole
By Larry R. Linville

My blood does not flow in your veins.
You have none of my DNA.
When I saw you the first few times in your life
You were only the daughter of someone special to me.
We did not see each other enough to be friends
And you probably wondered “who are these strange people?”
When you were much older you opened a very strange box
Or was it a “mixed bag”?
It brought you much suffering and pain.
Nausea stirred your delicate insides
And the chemo took your beautiful hair.
You had to miss much school
And lie around in a bed.
Not the kind of thing you would want to find in a box.
But the bag was mixed
It brought our paths back together again.
You had the opportunity to get to know those strange people
And we got to know you.
Each time you were brought to our neighborhood
We began to build a relationship that became special.
As the treatments were over
And your beautiful hair returned
The uncomfortable and the inconvenient
Were placed back in another box.
You have become such a beautiful young lady
Who has dreams
And plans
And new joys.
But there’s something we cannot put back in that box or bag
I wouldn’t want to try.
That child of someone who was special to me
Has become special in her own way.
The blood and DNA deny
What my heart celebrates with great joy.
My granddaughter – Nicole.