Below is a lovely picture of my Aunt MaryEllen and baby Corbin. MaryEllen was truly one of my absolutely favorite people on the entire planet. She was my eldest uncle’s wife, and I had known her my entire life. She was an amazing chef, an exceptional mother, wife, grandmother and friend. As a child my siblings and I would very often vacation with her and my Uncle Al. I was fortunate to have her, and my cousin Christina visit with my family in Philadelphia when we were still located up there with the baby in the hospital. We laughed, and cried, and had an amazing lunch at a cute french restaurant. She made my husband and I cookies, and brought them all the way from North Carolina. They were delicious. I smiled every time I ate one for the next week.

She loved me, and she loved my baby. I love her, and her children, and her spirit. She unexpectedly passed away last week, and my entire family has been thrown for a loop. It was sudden, and shocking, and I still forget it happened, because it just seemed and SEEMS so surreal. I brought the baby to the service. I had to. He loved her too. They met only once, but she was so vehemently supportive of him and his spirit and life. I cannot express how much I will miss her, and what a huge loss this has been. The world is missing an amazing soul. She had taught me so many lessons over the years.

During our visit I cried and vented to her about our familial situation and my fears for my son. I told her how scared and confused I was. She took me by the hand and she calmly said, “Laura, this kid is incredible. We are a family, and we will figure it out.”

That stuck in my mind, because she said it with complete faith, in a tone that was factual in nature, with one hundred percent certainty

So now I will say it, to myself when I get sad. and to my cousins, and aunts and uncles as well, whenever we panic and miss her.

“We are a family, and we will figure it out.”

I miss you so much ME. You were one of my heroes, if I become half the mother you were, I know I will have done a bang up job. ❤