When your child marries, you hope the spouse he chooses is loving, caring and will make him happy.  You don’t think about the parents that come along with the spouse.  At least, not right away.  When Glenn and Karen married we added Mary and Ken, Karen’s parents, to our family and were we ever lucky.  In Yiddish there is a wonderful word for this relationship.  It’s called your Machatunim.  Mary became our machatainista..

There was no one more thoughtful, helpful, loving and funny than Mary.  When grandchildren came along, Mary was always there to help, to shop, to cook and to bake the most amazing birthday cakes for Hannah and Zoë..She knew we traveled far to see the kids and didn’t see them as often as she did so when we visited she was sensitive about giving us more time with the girls. 

For over two years, during the pandemic, we had Friday night FaceTime with Mary and Ken.  We looked forward to these conversations and, because it was just the four of us, it brought us that much closer.  We’d share a toast with wine and discuss our favorite tv shows, what we’ve been doing and funny stories about our younger lives.  It was always special.  We will miss seeing Mary every Friday.

We watched Mary bravely fight her cancer.  It was a very difficult battle that she faced with hope and dignity.  We so admired her spirit and willingness to do whatever it took to survive as long as possible.  We are sad beyond words that the battle was lost.  We love and miss you, Mary.