Avery Bexley
Avery Bexley
Avery Noel Bexley was the youngest of 4 girls. She was the princess, small and petite. She never had the opportunity to go to school, but would mimic her siblings when they came home from school. They always told me how the day would go and how they did not get their clips moved for bad behavior. When I would pick her up from my mother’s house after work, she would say mommy I did not move my clip today. And although I knew she did not have any clips to move, I would say good job baby. Her favorite song was peanut butter jelly time. That song would always put a smile on her face. As she would clap and dance with the song you couldn’t help but to be happy with her. Whenever I’m having a moment, I think of peanut butter jelly time myself. Our favorite book together was the Gruffalo. We would read this book night after night. Although she could not read, she could recite parts of the story. Like kids today, she was an iPad baby. She knew how to search the Internet to find the video she wanted to watch. Even at 4 years old, she would often pretend she had a YouTube channel. I remember viewing videos of her saying “hello guys” as if she was talking to her audience. When Princess Avery was in the hospital, she would parade around with her pink robe and her pink boots. Although she lost all her hair with all of the different treatments, her nails flourished. We painted nails very frequently and that became our thing. She had the longest nails so we would always have them on display for the nurses and doctors to see. When she lost her hair, I was in shock. It came out so suddenly and I wasn’t prepared. But it did not phase her one bit, she thought it was funny and couldn’t wait to show her daddy her bald head. At age 3 1/2, She told me it’s OK mommy. That’s when I realize hair is such a nonessential thing. Hair doesn’t make a person. And Avery let me know this by refusing to wear the caps to cover her bald head. She loves strawberry ice cream and pink glazed donuts. Although she like pink, her favorite color was purple. She loved staying up all night with her daddy. They would stay up all night long doing God knows what. She loved to keep up with her sisters and as the baby boss, she loved to tell them what to do. Her birthday is December 31 and we got to spend the last birthday with her in our home, not in the hospital. Disney’s Frozen was our theme and the thing she liked the most was hitting the “pinada.” Whenever I see a piñata I smile because my baby called it the pinada. Yes, small things bring joy. The one thing that we will remember the most is how she comforted us as she was going through her trial. She would gently rub our face and cheeks as if she was trying to soothed our pain. Toward the end of her life, she didn’t speak much but would gesture for us to come close so that she could caress us. That was the most soothing thing ever. If you ask her how she was doing, she gave you a thumbs up. She taught us how to love. She taught us how to live. She taught us that everything will be OK. She was a strong little girl. I often wonder how she had so much spirit at such a young age, but realize she was our angel here on earth.