My Cousin Tommy...

...passed away yesterday.

He died suddenly and so our family is left shocked and saddened.

Just last October his mother passed away.

Got the phone call Tuesday evening while eating dinner in Ft. Lauderdale with Brother and Sister-in-Law. And so we sat, mulling over our meal, talking about our memories of this wonderful man.

Tommy and my mother were first cousins. He saved her life one day when they were kids. They had been swimming and Mom almost drowned. Tommy pulled her to safety.

She called him her hero for the rest of his life.

He also made us laugh.

As my Nana got older, she and her two sisters lost their sight. We affectionately called them the Three Blind Mice. One day Tommy drove them to have lunch. He dropped them off in a gas station. They thought they'd arrived at the restaurant and went in asking for a table. Tommy stood in the parking lot and laughed.

A good-natured laugh.

The whole family got a kick out of him.

Thank goodness that will never die.

When our boys were babies, Husband and I took them to Tommy's house in upstate New York. We paraded them around in front of the family and showed everyone the parenting books we were reading to fully prepare ourselves for life's hardest job. Tommy said parenting books were good for only one thing - whacking kids in the head when they do something wrong.

He had the best smirk.

Tommy's views on parenting: "You spend the first twelve months trying to get them to walk and talk and the rest of your life telling them to shut up and sit down."

Tommy was great. Funny and kind and loving and full of personality.

If you have any extra prayers, send them to my cousins - Tommy's children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. They lost Aunt Marie and now, less than a year later, they've lost Tommy.

He will be missed.