For Chrissie, From Trevia

Chrissie and Trevia at Disney World
with Cinderella's castle in the background.

In Loving Memory of
Chrissie Carrigan
November 14, 1986 - December 6, 2001

When I was told that my sister was coming into this world, I was in 9th grade Social Studies. I was called to the office and my mom told me that the doctors were going to do a C-section. I was excited to know that my sister was going to be born. Although I didn’t know at the time that it was a girl. I went back to class and was on cloud nine for the rest of the day.
I was waiting patiently at a neighbor’s house for the news. I knew that Chrissie was going to be a preemie but I didn’t know she was going to have so many complications. I was only 13 when she was born; I wanted her to be home. Actually I wanted her home just as much as my parents did.

The first time I got to touch her I rubbed the bridge of her nose. If she weren’t already asleep, she would yawn and go to sleep. My mom and dad both had special places where they touched her. The nurses told us that if we each touched her someplace different then she would know that it was somebody different each time. There were pictures of us on the side of her isolet and she had her first stuffed animal in with her, a mini-pound puppy. Later as Chrissie grew older I would still rub her on her nose, as she would fall asleep. She would often tell me to stop because it would cause her to fall asleep. She remembered who touched her nose.

Growing up with Chrissie was an adventure; she looked up to me not just as a big sister, but a guide. Where was I going to go next, Chrissie always wanted to know? We would do things and go places together all the time. One of Chrissies favorite activity growing up (and she mentioned this in her toast at my wedding) was, turning on the music in the kitchen and dancing. We would dance and dance, granted the kitchen was very small, but we still managed to make a lot of noise and commotion.

As her guide things changed a little bit when I went to college. I went to Hood College in Frederick, Maryland and majored in Special Education. Chrissie inspired me to teach special needs children. When my parents and Chrissie were beginning to leave Chrissie looked back and cried as she waved. I didn’t know but the song “Somewhere Out There” was playing on the radio. This song was the inspiration for our nicknames Tanya and Fivel, from the movie An American Tale.
That night when I was talking to Chrissie, “Somewhere Out There” was playing again. We both listened to it and cried. She wanted to be with me and I wanted to be home with her. I missed Chrissie a lot, but because I was so close to home, I would go home on weekends. This helped Chrissie deal with sissie not being at home. She would often ask “Sissie when are you coming home?” and it would be Monday. Often Chrissie would come visit and spend the night. She pretended that she was a college student. Everyone in my residence hall accepted her as a member of Smith hall.
When I graduated and moved back home Chrissie was so happy to have sissie home again. I guess what really hurt her is when sissie found her future husband and moved out for the second time. This time I wasn’t going to move back home. Even though she was old enough this time to understand, she still thought that Peter was taking me away from her. So to help ease her mind, Chrissie would spend the night at our apartment, and she would bring her other best friend, her dog Lace.

We would have so much fun watching movies, eating popcorn, playing hide and seek and truth or dare and sleeping together on our sleeping bags in the living room. Chrissie remembers the first time we were playing truth or dare and I fell asleep. I made it through “Sissie your dare is…” Chrissie never let me forget that night. She told me that if I fell asleep again that she would freeze my bra. I tried to stay awake from then on.
I think our greatest adventure was when I took Chrissie and Peter to Disney World. I had been twice and the second time I went Chrissie remembered. I told her when she was older we would go. So she responded with “So how old do I have to be?” I told her when she was 12 or 13 we would go. Well, in August of 2000 after Peter and I were married and back from our honeymoon we drove to Disney. We videotaped our adventures the night before and the drive down to Florida.

Chrissie and Peter at Epcot, in the country of Japan.
It was our last day and she was missing Lace.

Peter had to finish 2 weeks at his old job, so that meant Chrissie and I would have 2 full days together at Disney. We almost didn’t make the trip because of the job. Chrissie was so mad, and I was too because the trip was paid for already. Well, we stayed at the Fort Wilderness campground, and camped for the week. Chrissie didn’t like the bugs, she never like bugs. I was worried that I ruined the trip for her, but she reassured me that she was having a good time. Our first night after we dropped Peter off at the airport it began to rain. We decided to drive over to Disney Quest, so we weren’t sitting in the car with nothing to do. DQ is an indoor interactive thing. I can’t explain it any other way. It had stopped raining so we walked around looking at the shops.
Then we saw them. A girl was walking around with Tigger ears. We had to find them. We went from store to store until we found them. Chrissie got the Tigger ears and I got Eeyore. The ears are on a headband covered with faux fur. Chrissie and I wore these ears all week where ever we went. You can see it in the pictures that we took. It was like something was telling me to take lots of pictures of Chrissie for this was going to be her last big trip.

Chrissie with Tigger at Disneyworld.

Little did I know that it was. I gave her the trip of a lifetime for her Golden “14th” Birthday. She was born November 14th, so it was an early birthday gift. This is when things began to go down hill for Chrissie. I became her rock to lean on when she needed me. Sometimes I feel that I wasn’t there enough for her. But everyone tells me that I was.

For her 15th birthday I took her to see “Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone”. We both loved the Harry Potter series of books. So bright and early Saturday morning of November 17th we dressed up and went to see the movie. Chrissie wore her purple cape that Peter and I gave her, her black boots and her witches shirt. I wore my witches’ shirt, witches hat and the Harry Potter scarf that Peter had just won. We looked like a pair of Harry Potter fans. We joked about all the “muggels” the non-magical people. I ordered our signature snack for the movies. A large buttered popcorn and a large Cherry Coke. We ordered this every time we went to the movies.
When the movie was over we went to Mrs. Fields and got 2 hot chocolate chip cookies. Chrissie leaned into me and said, “This is the best sissie day I have ever had.” She always told me that whenever we made plans to do something together that it was a sissie day. I really miss those sissie days…
I love you Fivel, Tigger, Timone, Sissie !
Love Tanya, Eeyore, Pumbaa, Sissie, Trevia

Chrissie and me at night in MGM studios, we were
just fooling around dancing in the street.

This is the one picture Chrissie was somewhere else when they took it. Mom was so hurt that she was not in the picture so she asked a friend to add her from another picture. The lady's name is Billie, and her web site is at Pretty As A Pixel Designs

This is Chrissie's nephew, Trevia and Peter's son Little Peter.
Doesn't he look ever so much like his Aunt Chrissie?

This is a more recent picture of Chrissie's nephew, now known as Petey.

This is a picture from this year of Petey's little sister -- Chrissie's niece -- Vanessa.

This is Trevia's Mortar board from Hood Graduation when she got her MS.

Chrissie and her best friend, Lace. Chrissie's family recently had to put Lacey Girl to sleep. The poor baby got cancer and we did not know till the 5th of February when Chrissie's mom took her to the vet. We tried everything to help her but she woke up so weak on Saturday, Chrissie's mom just said that is it I have to stop the pain for her. So she is with her Chrissie now. Lacey Girl, 5-21-97 to 2-14-04.

Thank god I have a friend By Chrissie Carrigan
Thank god I have a friend,
She’s like an angel that god sent.
She comforts me and kisses me,
But when she’s not there, I’m alone.

She’s my only friend that cares,
She has two black eyes
and one black nose with little golden hairs.
She’s a very sensitive angel,
Every time I come home,
she’s happy and runs to say hello.

I love her and I know she loves me,
Because true friends we were meant to be.
She runs so fast and smooth,
You can tell her youth.

Thank god I have a friend,
She’s like an angel that god sent.
The only bad thing about my only friend is that
She’s not a person; she’s a dog.
My only friend, Oh my god.

Thank god I have a friend.

These flowers were drawn by Chrissie on January 9, 2001.

“Happiness is” By Chrissie Carrigan (November 14, 1986 - December 6, 2001)
Happiness is seeing a butterfly flutter by.
Happiness is being outdoors,
Happiness is being in the forest,
Happiness is where the home is,
Happiness is where my friends are,
Happiness is being with my dog,
Happiness is singing,
Happiness is praying,
Happiness is being in nature,
Happiness is love,
Happiness is life,
Happiness is the world,
Happiness is my dreams at night,
Happiness is friendship,
Happiness is my family,
Happiness is writing,
Happiness is happiness.

The pencil sketch was done by me (Trevia.)
It is Chrissie at 1 month old in her isolet with her pound puppy.

This where Chrissie's ashes are resting. Around her are
items that were special to her.

A friend can hear a tear drop.

Click on the Sailor Moon button below to send email to Chrissie's sissie...

Click on the "Home" button to read more about Chrissie ~

Click on the "Back" button below to visit Chrissie's special gifts page~

Click on the butterfly below to visit the special page
made by Chrissie herself, to promote her poetry ~

And click on the button below to visit the wonderful quilt page for Chrissie ~

A big thank you to Rose Mary for creating the wonderful angel bear background for Chrissie's page!

And thank you to my Bestest Buddy for fixing the photos
and some of the graphics for Chrissie's page!

Thank you also to Pammi for so beautifully framing Chrissie's photos, and to Karen for the wonderful "angel wings" image of Chrissie.

Andrew... Our Miracle, Our Angel

Visit Maria's pages for her little Christopher at
Maria's Tribute to Christopher Christopher's Angel Friends Angel Christopher My Tribute to a Very Special Boy

This award is for ALL your lovely pages for Christopher and others. Love: Marlene Marlene's Pages

To read the entries in Angel Chrissie's original guestbook,
please click on the image below ~