On December 24, 2010, my little girl, Julianne, lost her battle with pontine brainstem glioma. She lived life and she fought hard. My Julianne was a selfless soul in at only 4 years old. She always thought of others before herself and was patient and so very very funny right to the end. She found humor in almost everything. She loved her family so very much and never wanted to go anywhere without her brothers and sister, and if she got then they had to get too. If you were hurt she would have such empathy. She would do anything she could to make you happy again. She never talked about being sad about her illness. With all that was amazing about Julianne and all that made her seem wise beyond her years, she was still a 4-year-old little girl who used to sometimes get mad and stomp up the stairs to her room and sit on her bed and pout, who refused to eat her vegetables at the dinner table, who was not all that cooperative when I picked out a shirt for her to wear that she didn’t like and who was sometimes just a silly, head strong and stubborn, diva princess of a little girl…..Her favorite thing to say to me was “mom, you’re not the boss of me”, that and sticking out her tongue as I know many of you got to see as every other picture it seems is of her sticking out her tongue at the camera……. I would say back to her “Oh, Julianne, yes I am the boss of you”, and although technically I was the one in charge, I was the one who was “the boss”, it is she who taught me…it is she who is my strength… It is she who is an example to me, and I strive everyday to be like her.