Letter from Jeanie - 2005

Dear Mom,
I miss you so much!! I still can’t believe you’re gone…. My comfort is that I know I’ll see you in heaven, and you will be healthy and sooo very happy!
I can never thank you enough for always being a mother to me…. In every beautiful sense of the word. I remember when Jimmy and I were dating in college, and you were worried about me, you treated me like a daughter even then. I remember when you spent the night with me and Debbie in our Ypsi apartment…. We went to the Irish bar and you were singing with the performer! What fun I had with you. I remember when Jimmy had moved to Colorado and you invited me and the guy I was dating to the family reunion! I remember all the advice and love you gave to me when my children were young, "You know, Rachel, when you take a nap you grow, come here and let me measure you". (tee-hee). I remember how you comforted me when my parents were sick, and dying….. you have always been there for me, so supportive, so caring, so loving.
I remember being in awe of you one ski trip about 16 years ago, I realized that you didn’t ski and stayed in the condo alone for most of the trip. As soon as we all came back from skiing, you were singing and happy and looking forward to playing cards etc….. never a mention of boredom or anything negative. I loved playing Balderdash with you, you and I would always wink at each other cause we knew which fake definition was each others (cause we both used Latin roots)….
I will always be thankful for that time at your kitchen table, (before we played the joke on Mrs. Kenzi), when we were alone and I got to tell you that you were the woman I most admired in the world…. I had felt that way for a very long time, but it never seemed the right moment to tell you….. and that was it… and I got to tell you these many things that I admired about you and how you’d always loved me as a true mother and we both cried…
I love you Mom, I miss you and can’t wait to see you again!
Love, Jeanie ("How lucky for me that his mother is my best friend")