I met B when I was 16 years old and we started dating just after my 17th birthday. We went on that first date, became an instant couple, and have been pretty inseparable ever since. That was twenty years ago.

I met Carole, B’s mom, just days after B and I started dating.  His house was the house that everyone went to after school. It was the fun house. The door was always open and his family was always welcoming. There was always extra food for dinner (an interesting chicken dish of some sort…which became legendary) and there always seemed to be an extra friend or two at the dinner table. 

To say that B was adored by his mother would be an understatement. She was pretty upset with me when I whisked him off to New Mexico for college and then our many moves across the country after graduation. She was so happy when we finally settled in Colorado. When we opened our business this past year she said she finally slept easy that we would stick around for a while. 

Carole was diagnosed in September with uterine cancer and sadly, it progressed very quickly. It was five months of wishing and praying, but in the end she went quickly and peacefully surrounded by the love of her family. We honored her life today with a memorial service filled with friends and family. B gave a beautiful eulogy which had me both laughing and crying, which is absolutely his way, and Carole would have been very, very proud. 

She left us too soon. She had more life in her. She would have liked Blue Mountain Kitchen. She would have liked to see it grow. She would have liked more Easters and Christmases and Birthday Parties. She would have liked more celebrations. 

She would have loved watching our girls grow up. She would have loved more dance recitals, princesses, and prom dresses. She would have loved graduations and weddings and great-grandkids. She would have loved more time. 

Grandma Carole will be deeply missed, but we are celebrating her and her beautiful life. We will remember the good, and the fun, and cucuracha chicken, and we will be happy we had the chance to love her.