For Aunt Holly

This past weekend was a difficult one, to say the least. On Friday, March 16th, we unexpectedly lost my beautiful, hilarious, amazing Aunt Holly. In the past 5 days, so many wonderful things have been said about her and so many stories have been told--however, none of it seems enough. I could attempt to explain to you what a truly amazing person she was, but putting Holly's life into words would be an almost impossible task. So, in light of that, I think the best I can do is share our words from her service this weekend, and hope that its enough:

"We are Holly's nieces, but as many of you know, putting a label on your relationship with Holly doesn't really do it justice, because she was more than that. She was a friend, a second mom, and our number one cheerleader. She was there for us literally from the minute we were born and every minute after.

When we were kids, Holly made sure that she attended every soccer game, birthday party and dance recital. When Mary was five, our mom had a commitment that left her unable to get Mary dressed and ready for her dance recital, so Holly volunteered to take on the task. Insistent that Mary have "stage makeup," Mary ended up looking like a kindergarten tramp on stage that day, and Holly was never more proud.

As teenagers, she was there to talk us through breakups, offer advice and plan vacations that swept us away from our everyday lives.

In college, she attended our Moms' Weekends, she welcomed us into her home to live for the summers, and although we both spent four years at the number one party school in the country, some of the wildest nights of drinking of our lives took place in Holly's garage.

Most recent for me as been Holly's influence on my parenting. She taught me to set aside my Type A personality and that its okay if my kid wants to eat ice cream for breakfast (every day) and that it really is worthwhile to teach your kid to differentiate between beer bottle labels, because then she can fetch you your beverage of choice any any time (as Holly's girls have both done from a young age).

To this day, my mom, sister and I often face difficult situations by asking ourselves or each other, "What Would Holly Do?" because Holly truly taught us how to live--that living, really living, is about more than breathing in an out, its about being there for the people you love, about seizing the moment, and about creating your own happiness. We are so grateful for her love and her life."

Fabulous mom...

Hilarious sister...Party hostess...Family organizer...Champion beer pong player/cig smoker/Miller Lite drinker (note her daughter cracking the beer open for her)....Wonderful aunt...And great aunt.