When Natalie was in the second grade, the class was assigned to draw a family tree for homework. She came home in a panic. "MOM!?!! How can I ever draw OUR family?!?"

So if you are puzzled by all the people sharing stories and tributes as brothers or nieces or otherwise related, here is how the Fuller forest grew so full:

Don is Natalie's and Greg's father. He lives now in Nicaragua and Big Bear, California, where ....

Traci, his oldest child and only daughter other than Natalie lives. Traci and Natalie shared the same due date: April 1 (no joke). Traci was born on April 2. Natalie was born on April 17. Guess which mother had it easier.

Traci, has a younger full brother, Andrew, and all four of these offspring have twin half-brothers, Alex and DJ. Until we decamped to Colorado, Natalie and Greg grew up with the twins, also known as "Alex" and "More Alex" because Greg, as a toddler, couldn't keep them straight and figured this would take care of both of them. DJ is married to Andrea. Alex is married to Christine.

Fullers all.

Traci has two daughters, Rebecca and Amanda, to whom Natalie was beloved "Aunt Natalie." Rebecca fulfilled one of Natalie's lifelong dreams when she went to work at Disneyland (though not as a princess).

Andrew has three children: Jessica, Ciera and Andrew. Nat and Greg always found it a hoot that Jessica was their niece but older than both of them.

I had only two children, Greg and Natalie, but I remarried after Don and I divorced. Ken Sanger did the heavy lifting of going through Nat's teens and continued to be there for her ever since, even thought we, too, divorced. That's his hunting dog, Roux, Natalie is holding in a couple photos.

Ken added more branches: Stephanie, with her husband Jon and sons Walker and Eli, who live in Sandpoint and remained part of Nat's routine life. Derek and Sam and their daughter Ellie have lived too far away for that but saw Natalie when they came to Sandpoint and remained in the loop through me. There are also Joy and Scott and their daughter, Carmen, who knew Natalie, too. Even Ken's first wife, Pat, remained part of our family life.

I have one brother, Rick, better known as "Uncle Yucky," not because he is but because that's how "Rick" came out of Greg's baby mouth. Rick is married to Suzie and has one daughter, Lori, who lives in New Zealand but met Natalie on a trip to America when the girls were teenagers. Loria has one son, Jordan (?) Gregory. The Roberts side of the family can't begin to keep up with those Fullers.

Meanwhile, back at the alter, Don married Basia, which added Jon to our family. Jon and Greg were less than two years apart, and there is no "step" between them; they were best men in each other's weddings. Jon (married to Aubrey and father of Aiden) was often a source of comfort to Nat when she was not well.

Also on the marriage front, Greg added Carole to the tree in 2008 and gave me the best daughter-in-law any mom could want. The two of them made me a grandmother last August, with the birth of Abigail, who chose the moment we learned Natalie was gone to give me her first big-time smile of recognition, bless her. 

Me, I've sworn off he alter, but I live with sweet Louis, a saint in man's clothing, whom Natalie adored. To prove we really are one big connected family, Louis flew with Natalie to vacation with Don in Nicaragua two months before she died. While I worked, of course. And - last but far from least - Louis brought us his son, Anotine, a Francophone who lives in Canada but talked to Natalie by phone, and his beautiful daughter Joelle. Joelle addsher handsome fiancé Chris.

More of a family forest than a family tree, but Natalie shared life at some point - or a lot of points - with nearly every one single person I've named, and we are all bereft that we have lost her. 

April 17, 1986 - Born in Ventura, California, after Mom labored 55 hours - a week and a half in the office. Everyone always thought that was a funny line. Except Mom. Joined Greg and Daddy at home to make us a family of four.

January 1, 1987 - Moved with Mom, Dad and Greg to La Jolla, where she went to The Children's School for preschool and Mission Bay Montessori for kindergarten. Her best friend was Jenny, who lived next door, and her favorite thing to do was draw and paint, sometimes even herself. Maria was her beloved nanny who never minded playing Barbies with her like Mom did. Brothers DJ and Alex frequently came to stay. When Maria's toddler son David joined the household and everyone was together, we were a family of eight. She began spending summers at Rawhide Ranch, which would become like a second home to her into her 20s. She prided herself on becoming an A-team vaulter (gymnastics on horseback). When allowed, she binge-watched "The Little Mermaid" - and every Disney princess movie.

June 1992 - Moved to Dillon, Colorado, at 10,000 feet in the Rockies, where she declared she hated skiing and learned to ice skate. She starred as a pig in the spring play, piggy nose and all.

August 1993 - Descended  to the Mile High City, where the family lived in Greenwood Village, and she went to Greenwood Elementary, the Challenge School and West Middle School. She won a citywide prize for designing a birthday card to Beethoven and learned to run hurdles. She especially loved Easter egg and scavenger hunts, the playhouse Daddy created for her in the garage attic, playing with makeup and boys. She was joined at the hip to Jamie. They were inseparable - and sometimes double trouble.

June 2000 - Flew second seat in Mom's "My Wings" Miata while Ken pulled the U-Haul from Greenwood Village to her newest and ultimate home in Sandpoint, Idaho, where she always said she wished she'd been born and grown up. She loved ... everything about it, except maybe daily doubles on the volleyball team. She found her first boyfriend and her first love, made scads of friends - including Zibby, her forever bestest - managed the high school's wrestling team, went to Girls' State, competed in Junior Miss, became Miss Teen Idaho International, tipped cows, did everyone's makeup for all the big dances, went to state championships in hurdles, was always an honor student, discovered that bussing tables required way too much multitasking and generally ... loved life, spread sunshine and made everyone laugh. 

May 2004 - Became a published author when "Promise You Won't Freak Out" was published by Berkeley books. She was described on the cover as "social, active, fun-loving. Likes volleyball, boys, writing, shopping, boys, movies, cooking, watching TV reality shows, painting, and well, boys." None of that ever changed.

June 2004 - Graduated as a proud bulldog of Sandpoint High School. Greg and Dad and Basia were there, and a grand brunch followed for family and friends in the house Mom and Ken built on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille. Dad gave her his beautiful black Volvo as a present, which she treasured for at least a couple months before she figured out she could sell it, buy a cheaper car and use the difference in price to ... go shopping! Typical Nat.

September 2004 - Began the eight-year plan to a college degree, starting at the University of Puget Sound, where she majored in fun, met her next-bestest forever friend, Ginny, bonded with Chloe, Emily, Cat and the others and ultimately decided she never ever wanted to live somewhere it rains every day.

September 2005 - Transferred to Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California, where it definitely doesn't rain every day. Got to live around her stepbrother Jon. Worked at Sephora where she could indulge her taste for expensive makeup free. Met Aaron, her third forever bestest, who taught her to eat organic, scramble eggs, appreciate wine and probably some other things she never told Mom about. They stopped being a couple a couple years later, but Aaron never stopped being there for her, and she never stopped loving him. Applied for a job at Disneyland. In the space to fill in "Position Desired," she wrote "Princess." Of course.

Spring through Christmas 2006 - Returned to Rawhide Ranch as a CIT and stayed on as staff through Christmas. Lived in a grungy dorm where she could hear mice scrambling in the walls as she fell asleep but loved every minute of it and always hoped to return and work. It never happened. 

January 2007 - Began her third and final college career at the University of Idaho, where fun was now only her minor, and she excelled as a studio art student, painter and sculptor. She especailly loved reconnected with Sandpoint High friends who'd been there all along and wondered why she left Idaho in the first place.

Summer 2008 - Reveled in her summer abroad program in Barcelona, where she learned to work with glass - in which she would create many of her most creative expressions - was visited by Ginny and saw the Prado with Zibby, who came for a European road trip. Ended the summer in Cardiff, Wales, at Greg and Carole's wedding, where we learned later she was beginning to hear voices. 

December 2008 - Experienced her first psychotic break at home in Sandpoint while Greg and Carole were visiting from Italy. From then until her death in March 2015, Natalie lived with severe bipolar disorder and psychotic symptoms that led to many hospitalizations.

May 2013 - Graduation! Dad and Rose came from California for the big event, and the troops at her group home threw her a party.
 
September 2013 - Moved to Arlington, Virginia, to live with Mom and near Greg and Carole (and, ultimately, baby Abby). LOVED being in DC - the museums, the Metro, the urban vibe, being near her family. Met the first guy she really cared about in ages. Made friends. Decided she was a city girl after all.

March 14, 2015 - Died way too soon by suicide in Baltimore, Maryland. 

From December 2008 until her death, Natalie's severe mental illness - often untreated because she rejected the medications she needed to be sane - sometimes dominated her life but never entirely defined it.

Through it all, she continued to write, to paint, to dazzle with her creativity, to inspire, to delight and to be herself. She fell in love and made friends. She never stopped thinking of others and brought joy to many. She also continued to shop, watch movies ("Silver Linings," endlessly), paint and, of course, love boys. 

Becoming her beloved Natalie's most ferocious protector and champion led Mom into her final career as the executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center, which is dedicated exclusively to creating access to treatment for people, like Natalie, who struggle to stay in treatment and live on with the most severe psychiatric diseases.

Natalie always said that mental illness sucked but at least it gave Mom a meaningful job.

Until the very end, she always was always looking for silver linings.