Life does seem a little unfair....

To all my blogging friends.....my beautiful son, Patrick, died early yesterday morning.  My heart is hurting, my granddaughters are grieving, and I am coping with the loss of a friend....we had a wonderful relationship.  He was ill for quite some time, and when he ended up with a perforated ulcer, septic shock, and renal failure, he had no resources left to fight.

I cry sometimes, when I think about my losses; otherwise I am focused on doing what I need to do to be strong for the rest of my family, and for his children. I am working to be the strong mother that he always believed I was.  He was so funny....he always thought I knew the answer to everything.  He would call and say, "Mom, what do you think about the economic situation, and why is the stock market failing?"  He was totally aural.....and not very focused on analytics........give him an answer, and he would believe it until something else piqued his interest.

We cooked together, for a long time.  He was bound and determined to surpass my culinary library with his own.  He was a true chef.....came to visit, trashed my kitchen, and was totally surprised when there was no dishwashing staff to clean it up!  But he loved my garden, loved sharing culinary surprises with me, and loved to call and tell me about some incredible meal, or some incredible chef that he had discovered.  He was my entree into the culinary world that I longed for.  He was a great mentor to young chefs.....he recruited people for his restaurant from the Culinary Institute of America where he trained, and he imbued them with the same love and respect for food that he learned there....it was his "army" training, and he was a better man for the discipline he learned there.

Please hug your children tonight.  You just never know when they might leave you.  Patrick was 38, he was beloved by all his friends, and his co-workers. He delighted in his daughters, and had no restraint in his love for them.  His brother was with him almost every day in the hospital.....thank you Jon for being there for him at the end....

He was funny, stubborn, bright, and infuriating.  He lived life to the utmost......he gave his stepfather fits for 27 years......Guy wonders who on earth will argue with him about the best football team, Michael Jordan, John Elway, or the latest hot shot to hit the basketball courts.  We will both miss him.

Thanks for listening....have a good week, and I will be back.  Just not for a while....

Miss you Patty......you were everything a mother could want, and then some....

Kathy