My Aunt Pat was not only my aunt but my Godmother as
well. She was there for my baptism, I
believe my first communion and in spirit for my confirmation. She did a reading at my wedding. I don’t have a lot of specific memories of
her, they are all jumbled in the various family gatherings through the years,
and the majority of the time spent with her was spent with my cousin Tori as
well. What I remember most was her love
of puzzles, crosswords and jigsaw to be more specific. I have always told everyone that she is one
of the smartest people I have ever known.
She always wanted to learn. I
love that she took the time to put together a family tree, sad that she did not
go back as far to prove that we are royalty like my grandfather always said.
There are a few of times where I do remember her the
most. The first plane ride I ever took
was flying from Syracuse to White Plains to spend the week at her house. I was 9, and it was around Easter time
because I remember going somewhere and doing an egg hunt. I flew by myself, my dad strapped me in my
seat on the plane (it was the early 90s) and my aunt and cousin met me at the
White Plains airport. Again, about 9
years later I found myself at her house for Easter, I spent my freshman year of
college in CT and my Easter break was not very long so I stayed at the Kuhr
house. That same year my aunt for my
birthday had decided she’d take me to my first show on Broadway, Seussical the
Musical. I took the train down from
school, my cousin met me at one of the stops on the way into the city and we
rode the train together to the station.
Aunt Pat picked us up there; we had NYC pizza for dinner.
I cannot forget the countless dinners we had while visiting
CT and when they came to visit us. Like
the time we were at the Spaghetti Warehouse, and she found out she really wasn’t
a honeymoon baby. My grandparents had
put in the paper that they went to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. I don’t know why but my aunt brought up that
she was a honeymoon baby, and my grandmother said, "oh no we never went to
Niagara Falls, we just put that in the paper."
Aunt Pat’s reaction was priceless, and needless to say she wasn’t very
happy (apparently you can’t believe everything you read in the paper either).
She, as you can see, was there for a lot of my
firsts. I can still hear her laugh and
remember her smile. I am so lucky to
have had her in my life, she is greatly missed.
