My mom passed away this morning. She's gone and I know I'll miss her forever.
This is her a from few years ago with her best friend, my dad:
My parents were married April, 1961 and my older brother was born the following February. I was born almost 3 years later, in October 1963. Dad passed away in November of 2007. That was a very sad day, too. Mom never quite got over her loss. Not even close. I know what the doctors said about what lead to her death this morning. I know they're medically right but I also know they are, in fact, quite wrong. I know she slowly died of a six year old broken heart.
But I don't want to talk about that. This is what Mom and Dad looked like the day they were married:
He was one handsome SOB, wasn't he? And she was very pretty, indeed. This was her a few years before she met my dad:
Now all at once: AWW!! So cute.
I wish you all could have met my mom. She was a kind lady who made friends easily and always knew the right thing to say, whatever the situation. She was a great mom who gave the bestest hugs in the history of the republic. Being hugged by my mom felt like being gently nestled inside a big, wonderfully warm comforter. One that rocked back and forth, but gently.
She spoke Italian fluently, knew how to Greek dance, and was a highly experienced tole painter. Don't know what tole painting is? This is tole painting:
That's her work, by the way.
In lieu of flowers or sympathy cards or anything like that (if you wanna send 'em, however, feel free) this is what I want you to do: Take some time out of your day, a few bucks out of your pocket and go find the person you most value in this life (boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, wife, husband, spouse, best friend, sibling, child, parent, whatever) and take them out for some ice cream or a beer or some kick-ass baklava. Maybe just go for a nice walk in the park. Whatever it is, let them know how much they mean to you and how much you love them.
Mom would've liked knowing that you did that.
