Bill Surian, center, kisses his life partner Jody Garrett during the wedding ceremony of her daughter Jamijo Gilbert to Tim Carter. Though they had planned the wedding to be in June of 2014, Jamijo and Tim were married on Oct. 4, 2013 at Covenant Health Care’s Chapel in Saginaw, Mich. due to Jody’s recent diagnosis of terminal gallbladder cancer. “I honestly can’t imagine getting married without her,” said Jamijo.  “I often wonder and think about it and wonder how it would’ve turned out, the dream wedding, but I didn’t sacrifice. It wouldn’t have happened if she couldn’t be there. That is just how it is supposed to be.”

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Five days after Jamijo and Tim's wedding ceremony, Jody lost her battle with terminal gallbladder cancer. "I just don't know what I am going to do," Jamijo said aloud while sitting in her mother's home. "I just don't know what I am going to do." 

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Before her memorial ceremony, family members joined together to release balloons into the sky bearing notes to Jody in honor of her birthday. "Happy Birthday Mom. I love you and miss you," Jamijo wrote in large printed letters on a post it note before placing it inside her purple balloon. 

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Jamijo walks through the show room at Snow Funeral Home while holding the ashes of her mother Jody Garrett in search of small urns to give to her daughters. Jamijo hoped that having the urns will help the girls better understand the death of their grandmother and give them a piece of her to hold on to.
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Jamijo holds her new husband Tim while their daughters chase after the balloons sent off on Jody's birthday. "We have been through more in our short time of marriage than most couples have their entire lives," Tim said of their relationship. 

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Jamijo works through the night to begin the long task of packing up her late mother's home carefully packaging each item before placing it in storage boxes. "She was more than my mother," said Jamijo. "She was my best friend." She described Jody as standing beside her through all life’s challenges including her diagnosis of muscular sclerosis in 2009, waiting with her and helping her during her episodes. 

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Jamijo laughs with one of her two daughters, Aubree Ann, 6, after comforting her other daughter Sydnee,4, who was crying because she missed her grandmother. Due to the closeness of the family, the death of "Grandma Jody" has been difficult on the two girls.

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Jamijo removes boxes from the former house of her mother to be taken to a storage building where she can take some time to mourn before going through her mothers belongings. "I think the only way to describe her was 'The Greatest," Jamijo said about Jody. 

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