Gifts for Nonnie

It has been quite a journey the last couple of months. My Aunt Judy, also my Godmother, passed away on May 5th after a long battle with Cancer. She was, without a doubt, an amazing woman, and I will greatly miss her. She was the matriarch of her family, the "ruler of the roost" and the foundation that kept everything together. She taught me how to paint on wood, "make stuff" and was a creative person long before there was Martha Stewart, HGTV, or Craft Blogs.

She created beauty in everything and in everyone she touched; she was an artist, decorator extraordinare, valiant warrior, a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. Known not only as Judy King but also as Tootsie, Great Tootsie, Aunt Tootsie, and just "The Toots". My Aunt Judy lived every day to the absolute fullest. She was a breast cancer survivor in 1995 and lived well beyond the 6 years they gave her. My husband fondly recalls meeting her for the first time: She pulled him aside and said "I am living on borrowed time, I don't have time for games, are you going to marry my niece or what?" As he later put it "How could I say no to Aunt Judy, of course I was going to marry you!"

In honor of my Aunt Judy, I am going to make every effort to live my life to the fullest, and evaluate what is truly important to me, decide what I want from this life, and then go after it with an open heart, and a creative spirit...