Today marks the home going of my second mom. Miss Janet, as I called her, has been apart of my life since I was born. She has been with me for all the milestones of my life and it’s hard to imagine that she will no longer be there, but she will be somewhere infinitely better. She was my mom’s best friend and my best friend’s mom. I grew up alongside her two boys and spent so many hours at her house playing in an old canoe and burying GI Joe figures. She was a teacher at heart and in her profession, in fact she taught me 8th grade science in school. Our families spent so much time together and there are so many memories, most good and some difficult. We had crazy trips together to the beach and Niagara Falls, we spent holidays together and many Super Bowl parties. She was there for so many first in my life and I was her first daughter, even though she has two wonderful daughter-in-laws now. She was there right after my parents got me through adoption, she made so many Halloween costumes for me and my 6-year-old Barbie birthday cake, she was there to help us pick up the pieces after my parent’s divorce,  she took me shopping for my prom and wedding dresses, she was there for my graduations and my wedding, she was there for my kids births and dedications.  Just before she passed away this week she got to see a picture of my soon to be daughter, my first girl out of four boys, things have come full circle.

She was a woman of faith and had such a great influence on my life. She taught me so many things, not just in science class but about life. She loved to laugh, she was so creative and talented, she expected you to do your best in all things and made me a better person for it, she loved people, especially middle schoolers, which is a special calling I have to say, and she cared so much about those around her. She was so proud of her husband and her boys and the men they have become and she loved her grandkids dearly. And she made the best potato salad in the world. I will miss her so much, but I am rejoicing that she is no longer in pain, can breathe freely and dance and sing in the presence of Jesus! She was a wonderful person and will be greatly missed by so many people and that is the sign of a life well lived.