Amazing Grace

Teresa's garden

This is Em here. I've taken a little bit of a breather from writing on the blog and on facebook because I lost one of my favorite people in the whole world on Christmas morning. My aunt Teresa was married to my Dad's youngest brother Tom. I have always adored Tom. He is open and gentle and loving, which is very important to mention here because, as much as I have always loved Tom, I still couldn't help but think that he was lucky as hell to have Teresa. We all were. Anyone who encountered her in even the smallest sense of the word was lucky - even her post man and the guy who read her meter.

Teresa was remarkable. She was fiercely intelligent and intimidatingly well read. She had a great Kathleen Turner dusky voice and a bawdy sense of humor. She was unflappable and she just seemed to do everything well and with such amazing grace. As she said on her facebook page, she was an avid reader, a serious cook and a passionate gardener. My most memorable meals were almost all made in her kitchen. She had a knack for effortlessly throwing together these amazing feasts and she would do it on a moment's notice, while carrying on the most fascinating in depth discussions with you that you'd ever had in your entire life. Suddenly, you would look up and there would be a deceptively simple looking roast chicken on the table in front of you that somehow had the power to bring all the best moments of your childhood rushing back to you.

This might have something to do with the fact that a lot of the best moments of my childhood were spent at Tom and Teresa's house. Like everything else Teresa touched, their house was incredibly warm and lovely and inviting. I remember giggling with my cousins into the wee hours of morning while having a slumber party on their lawn. Nothing but stars above us and the smell of flowers and ripe raspberries all around us. I remember Tom and Teresa patiently teaching me to play Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit at their house and letting me read there all afternoon, but most of all I remember hours upon hours spent sitting in their kitchen, talking to them and being so awed by Teresa's incredible empathy and insight. I always wanted to be like her and I was always so touched that she treated me like an equal and a peer, even when I was just a scruffy kid with scabbed knees.

This is Teresa and her own sweet Em - her daughter Emily. Teresa loved Emily to pieces and was so happy that she and her family ended up living next door.

This is Teresa and my Uncle Tom and their beloved boxers. She got such a kick out of her dogs and she and Tom really and truly loved one another.

And here is my darling Teresa. I miss her so. This past holiday season has been very bittersweet. It has reminded me how quickly life changes and how lucky we are to have the people we love, for however long we have them. I loved Teresa so very much and I probably didn't tell her nearly enough, so if you're reading this, there's a very good chance that you are another person who I love very, very much. And I hope that you know it.

Goodbye dear Teresa. Thank you for being amazing and for helping to bring so much grace into my life.

Em