Mary Lou -- R.I.P

She was my Sister. Not by blood, but just the same in my heart. Chris brought Mary Lou into our lives at such an early age that I knew her longer than I knew Bart! Her passing of course was devastating to us all, but it was also a wake-up call to reassess what is important in life, knowing that we can go at anytime.

So I am not going to use this blog 'air-time' to rehash what we put in her eulogy, but to share some of my fondest memories of ML, and hope you do too!

This picture was taken at Ethel's biker bar in Newtown. C&ML were on their way back from FL through Cincinnati. We were driving down round bottom road, maybe after visiting Newtown market or Milford for a movie or something on a dreary day. We saw Ethel's and said, 'let's check it out!'. It was nearly empty and definitely a dive bar. So we grabbed some beers and decided to play darts. Some patron with tats and leathers had to tell us the rules -- We set up guys vs. gals, and look how well ML did! After several cheap drinks, and a dare by the guys, ML and I then danced around what we called a stripper pole! We got our legs tangled and ended up laughing on the floor! There is a picture of that somewhere...LOL. Or, you can just imagine it in your fun fantasy!

Another fond memory was the last time we were with her, and that was in November 2018 when we celebrated C&ML's anniversary as usual, but then also took them to see newborn Estelle. We got some great pictures there with ML and a huge smile on her face. When we were there, Meredith mentioned that someone was going to do a newborn photo shoot and she wanted a cute outfit and some fabric to stage a basket picture for Estelle. Well that next day, ML and I had the most fun in a power-shopping spree! We went to at least 3 different stores at Eastgate, and then to the fabric store. I didn't know until we were cleaning out closets that shopping in mass quantities was one of ML's hidden secrets!