Or “Boo Boo” as we called her…it’s been a tough season for our family.

Two days after Christmas, Leslie’s Mom passed away. It all happened
pretty fast. In mid-October she was diagnosed with cancer, and 10
weeks later she was gone. She was an incredible person - a faithful
wife of 41 years, great Mother to Leslie and Jeff, and an awesome
grandmother to our 2 kids. One day when Anna was just a baby, sitting
in her high chair, Leslie’s Mom was playing peek-a-boo with her and
Anna was just giggling like crazy. Later that day when Anna saw her
again she pointed and said, “Boo Boo” and the name was born!

This past Saturday we had her funeral and afterward everyone came
over to the house. Leslie’s Dad is from a huge Italian family and its
the tradition to have everyone over after a funeral. I think it’s a
really cool tradition. There had to be 75 people at the house - all
her sisters and brothers, Leslie’s Dad’s family, cousins, and
neighborhood kids that grew up around Mrs Thelma. It was really
amazing to hear the stories of the people she impacted. At the risk
of sounding trivial, I learned a lot from her, but was really
impacted in three ways. As I listened to others, these were the
most consistent things I heard people say…

1 - She was a helper of people - especially the underdogs. One cousin
was in rehab and had to choose one member of the family to correspond
with weekly and he chose Mrs. Thelma. Others who went through a tough
divorce, even the kids from the neighborhood came to her for
strength. I don’t have the space to write all the stories…

2 - She was always positive - Leslie’s Dad and Mom are some of the
most positive people I’ve ever met. Mrs. Thelma never once complained
about her diagnosis. She didn’t get mad at God. She remained positive
in the last weeks of her life and it provided a huge sense of
strength to everyone around her. That was the thing everyone kept
saying, what a strong person she was. When people talked about how
sad it was going to be without her, she encouraged them. I think this
is a huge principle and I’m trying to learn to maintain that positive
mind and spirit no matter what comes my way. Positive in the good
times and positive when its tough.

3 - She had no unresolved relationship issues - nothing unresolved
with God or man.

I’m thankful for the life she lived, for who she was a person, for
the way she raised my wife, for the grandmother she was to our kids.
When I said my goodbye to her the last few days before she passed
away, I realized that she was much more than a Mother-in-law, she was
like my own Mom. She treated me like a Son. I’m going to miss her.