mimi.

how on earth do you sum up somebody's life in just an hour long funeral and a few hundred pictures. especially someone with so much of a story, so much life to tell about. i never knew my mother-in-law mimi when she was young, when she was a teen, or when she was a young wife and mother. but i did get to know her very well over the past four years and i can say, without a doubt, that i am a better person for having done so.

mimi taught me so much about living life for the moment and not sweating the small stuff, which, i know sounds like a cliche since so many people say it's sage advice, but rarely does anyone really live by it. mimi did. she always said i say "i'm sorry" too much, and my husband tells me the same. i'm going to stop being sorry so dang much, stop feeling regret, because as i learned in the past couple weeks, life is so very, very short.

after living, and i do mean LIVING, with cancer for the last six years, mimi passed away saturday morning, the 25th of august. i think she's at peace with it, i really do, and if anyone is going to go out on their own terms, it would be mimi. tony and i, his sisters and their families, all headed to bemidji to bid a fond farewell to a woman so many people loved, cherished, learned from and believed in. it will be hard to get used to life without her around.

we will keep her in our hearts and honor her by showing each other love, by fighting for what we believe in and for never, ever, taking for granted any moment of any day.

today it was so sunny and beautiful. she would have loved it. at the end of her life, mimi lost her vision, but where she is now i believe her sight has been returned and was able to enjoy that same beautiful sunset i watched tonight.

i will miss her very much.