In Memory...

Good evening all... Anyone who stops in at "Kev's Corner" or has read two or more posts is familiar with one of "Kev's" very best friends, JoAnn, a.k.a. "Princess." (We have been friends for 27 YEARS, and that is, well, quite special...)

Last month, JoAnn's 93-year-old "Nonna," Josephine, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. JoAnn called last night to say that Josephine had "passed on," in her sleep, at her home, earlier in the evening. While I view death and loss as a very natural, but personal matter, and do not want to trivialize it by mentioning it here, I did not want to write about anything else tonight.

I am not going to attempt a tribute to Josephine, because it will not do her justice, but I will say, as JoAnn would tell you, that she was a true matriarch from the old country.

What an accomplishment to produce an amazing family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, reaching the age she did while maintaining her mental capacity and independence.

We should all be so lucky. She won the game.

On my recent trip home, I joined JoAnn, her parents (whom "Kev" also LOVES), aunt and uncle on a visit with Josephine. JoAnn was bejeweled in, I think, almost every piece of jewelry her "Nonna" bestowed upon her. It was a very sweet act of honor and respect and did not go unnoticed by "Nonna" either.

Finally, I have to share something that I HOPE will make JoAnn chuckle... As you all know, "Kev" loves, yes, Stevie Nicks, and lives in her lyrics. Whether I am drinking a can of soda, driving to the office, reading my mail, paying my bills, or shopping at the mall, I have the ability to draw upon Stevie's infinite words to enhance meaning in my own life. She's prophetic. I know...I have too much time on my hands. Anyway, JoAnn has known of my Stevie "infatuation" since we were teens, and it was often the source of laughter, at least for JoAnn. One of the several songs JoAnn would mimic/mock to taunt and tease me was "Edge of Seventeen" (which people often think is titled, "Just Like The White Winged Dove" - it isn't...) I think JoAnn even "sang" this to me last week right after she gave her rendition of "Gypsy" when I ordered the "gypsy" breakfast skillet (minus the ham). "Edge of Seventeen" is about the death of John Lennon and the death of Stevie's uncle, whom she was with when he passed. Stevie sings, "I hear the call of the nightbird, singing come away..." When JoAnn called last night to tell me that Josephine had passed away, my first thought was, "She heard the call of the nightbird..." I hope that isn't disrespectful in any way and I only hope the "nightbird" waits for me, and all of you, as long as she waited for Josephine.

To JoAnn -
What else can I say... You are loved tremendously and I know how proud your "Nonna" was of you, even when she mistakenly thought you swiped her china... Oh, "and to Hell with Olga" (inside joke..).

XOXOXOXO,

"Kev"