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Eulogy

I watched a movie on Netflix, "Detachment" starring Adrien Brody, about a disillusioned substitute teacher who starts to attach to his troubled inner-city students. One of the first assignments he hands out is to write a paper on what your family would say about you when you die. I decided to take on that assignment.

Tina Flink, formerly Tina Kent, formerly Tina Angela Danner, was our child, our sister, our family. She gave us a beautiful grandchild, and a lovely niece. Tina was hard to know. She would bring us close. Inviting us into her home for family holidays; Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas then she'd be off, living her life. She loved her husband and her daughter and her cat, Gracie, And her family.

Tina was a precocious child. She carried good grades despite having to move a lot as a Navy brat. She was close to her grandparents, spending many summers with them at their home or going on roadtrips. She learned macrame´, ceramics, embroidery, needlepoint, crochet, and tole painting from her grandmother. Developed a love for lawnmowing and a bent for office work from her grandfather.

At home, she learned life skills, Real life skills of which her husband can vouch. She was a good homemaker and an excellent cook and she worked for a living.  And she learned to be strong. If you were around Tina during the time she lived with ALS, then you know that she struggled. She became more dependent than she would have preferred. And she became more outspoken and critical of her loved ones. Somehow we got the message that we did not live up to her expectations. We now understand that ALS has an emotional component that heightened her emotions and made her more impulsive. We know that she loved us.

Oh Hell! I have no freaking idea what they would say. I'm just putting words in their mouths. And most likely the wrong ones. I know my sister, Dawn, has a lot of crap to throw down. My mother, I figure, will say the nicest stuff. I hope she remembers our good times Knitting and going for tea. Our Hawaii memories aren't all bad, either.

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