2005 the start of the rollercoaster

January 29th was my sister Tammy's 30th birthday, her last birthday. May was when everything changed, I got on the roller coaster and couldn't get off. Mothers day I talked to Tammy and found out how unhappy she was. I tried to help and protect her but it wasn't enough. I last spoke to my sister May 23rd the last words I said to her, I love you. I am grateful that I have no doubt that she knew how important she was to me. Tammy lost her life to domestic violence. Her husband said divorce was not an option and unfortunately meant it in the most horrific way. He took her life in the house they shared. I was in Albert Lea that day thankfully to pick up a dog. My mom got a call from my nieces school to come pick her up so mom called me to drive her. The house was 3 blocks from the school, how I didn't see all the police cars 2 blocks down I will never know. We saw a police car in front of the school but tried not to worry. Once the plain clothes police officer was introduced to us though worry set in. Sitting at the table and having to hear the words Mrs. Sorensen I'm sorry but your daughter is dead........ I can't even imagine what my mom was thinking. I put my head down the only thing I could think was am I reacting properly? Is this what I should be doing after hearing the words my sister, my best friend is dead. I knew he did it, the officer wouldn't say what happened, they were still investigating. We were given some time to collect ourselves then we had to take Sarah and Johnnie back to my parents. When that door opened and I saw Sarah sitting on that chair swinging her legs she was so excited to see me my heart broke.I did not cry that day I let my mom cry, I entertained the kids tried not to alert them anything was wrong. One more day they deserved one more day of happiness. We kept the news off, the story was all over it. The next afternoon I took the kids to a bedroom, just us I was not going to make my mom do this. I was Auntie Kay I know how much they loved me and sitting there trying to find the words was the hardest thing I had ever done. Telling them, a 5 and 4 year old their mommy was gone seeing my nieces heart break and having my words do it. I slept at Al's cousins that night and fell apart finally letting myself feel. The rest was such a blur talking to detectives, planning the funeral and trying to get off this roller coater. Adjusting to loosing Tammy in such a horrible manner was not easy. Wishing I could have changed things but knowing I couldn't was hard to come to terms with. Then the back and forth with him and preparing for trial then him delaying it. I got through, somehow. May 26th 2006 I got my 3rd tattoo, a care bear on my leg. Friend bear for my best friend. I survived the first year.

Background part 1

Well since this is my first post time to put basic information in. Jose (Alex) and I have been together for 10 years,its hard to believe so much has happened during this time. We were married August 17th 2002. It seems like a completely different life ago. I currently work at an alarm company monitoring security alarms and Alex is working at Walgreens as a cashier. We have lived in Richfield for the last 8 years. On November 25th 2007 we were blessed with Aidan Isaiah he is our little miracle boy. We didn't find out until he was born that he would have Spina Bifida. It was a complete shock to say the least. We were able to spend a few hours with him after he was born before he was transferred to the children's hospital for further treatment. He was born with his back closed which was a blessing as I believe it helped reduce the amount of nerve damage he has. He had two surgeries in December 2007. The first to repair the area where his spinal cord grew into a fatty mass called a lipoma. The second was to deal with issues from his back not healing well. He was in the hospital most of December. We celebrated his first Christmas there, not what we originally planned for our little peanut. We were released on new years day but had to go back a few days later for his third surgery, this one completely unrelated to Spina Bifida. He developed pyloric stenosis and had to have the muscle in the bottom of his stomach cut to allow it to empty. He recovered from that almost immediately, Aidan loves to eat:) Unfortunately that was not the end of our hospital fun though, towards the end of January we were yet again back to our favorite 6th floor of the hospital this time with a staph infection in the back wound we were still dealing with. After another round of antibiotics we were finally free. Aidans back finally fully healed in February 2008, six hospital admissions and three surgeries later we were home to stay. Aidan is such a fighter and he reminds me every day that no matter what we will get through whatever comes.