"We never lose our loved ones.
They accompany us; they don’t disappear from our lives.
We are merely in different rooms."
—Paulo Coelho
What I remember about my mother:
She was beautiful beyond measure
She had a wicked sense of humor
My friends loved her and her generous hospitality
She encouraged me to get an education
She sacrificed so much for me and my siblings
Her wonderful smile
Her roaring laughter
Keeping a neat home
Her loving hugs
Instilled a love for our Sicilian heritage
Sending me Italian Deli care packages when I went away to college
Her hard work as a seamstress in her younger years
Her Italian meatball soup with carrots, onions and celery
Her love for bingo and playing the lottery
Our long walks together when she came out to visit us in California
Our many trips to see her family in Sicily
Having her and my dad join us and the kids on trips to Maui, Mexico and Alaska
Providing me a private Catholic School education when I was unhappy in the public school system from the start.
Encouraging our dad to buy a home in a safer neighborhood when I was 7 years old.
