Tifiny Rose’s son, Aiden, couldn’t speak, but his mom said she still knew he loved her.
“Just with the look in his eyes, his gestures, his smile, his sparkle in his eyes,” she shared.
On Sunday, as the large Rose family of more than a dozen was headed to a holiday party in Salt Lake City, Aiden passed away.
One might look at the family’s story of this loss and others they have suffered over the last three years as those of grief, but they’re not, especially at this time of year.
This is a story about gifts.
“We have three biological children, and then we’ve adopted 19,” Tifiny said. “Truly, they really have blessed our lives.”
A former Tooele bank manager, Tifiny and her husband, Earl, a former Salt Lake City Police Department detective, moved to St. George more than a decade ago. There, she opened her dream, Tifiny’s Creperie which is usually packed for breakfast and lunch.
The couple has also adopted children with mental and physical disabilities. About 20 years ago, Aiden was their first adoptee with cerebral palsy.