Remembering Aunt Pam

Tonight we are grieving the loss of my dear aunt-by-marriage, Pam Guevara.  She was diagnosed with brain cancer almost exactly four months ago and passed away at home early this morning, surrounded by family, friends and enormous love.  Pam and my mom were pregnant with their first children, my cousin Kimberly and me, at the same time.  Pam and her husband Dan (my uncle Rey's brother) moved to southern Oregon around the same time that my parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle, and several other family friends did, around 1978-80.  Basically we all just brought the party up from southern California to southern Oregon!  We cousins were so lucky to grow up surrounded by close family and friends - we celebrated holidays together, picnicked and fished together, and cut down our Christmas trees in the woods together.  Pam was an elementary school teacher in Grants Pass for many years and loved helping children.  In the past few years she and Suchitra developed a special relationship.  Along with many, many other people, we will both miss her kind, warm presence in our lives more than I can express.

Kimberly wrote a really beautiful tribute to her mom that I would like to share here:  "She is the most amazing woman and role model as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend and teacher and we are blessed to have had her here with us for as long as we had her.  There is a huge void in all our lives, and while we struggle to cope, we know too that her legacy of love, joy in living, compassion, servant's heart and spirit of forgiveness will live on forever in all of us."  I can't think of a better way to remember Pam, and even though it's so hard not be with our family at this sad time, these words are very comforting to me.

This weekend we were super lucky to get a visit from my longtime friend and bar exam study partner, Heba Nimr.  I would not have gotten through law school without Heba.  Literally, would have bombed out.  Then she got me through the California bar exam.  Her friend from high school, Trisha, lives here and was the one who saved me from hospital cafeteria food (i.e. imminent starvation) by taking me to the grocery store a few days after we got here.  Yesterday we sprung Suchitra from the hospital and drove her to Trisha's house, where we feasted on ice cream and Suchitra's favorite south Indian cuisine from a local restaurant.  What fun to get out of the hospital and into "real" life for a while.  Here we are with Heba.  It just occurred to me that now she's pretty much an expert in Helping Monica Survive Difficult Experiences.

Heba also took some pictures of us that will give you a sense of what we're up to.  Here we are in front of our wall of love (your cards and letters):

This is what we do for fun a lot of the time:  Uno!

Suchitra has a busy week of therapy ahead.  She will have three Lokomat sessions, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I think.  Possibly some pool therapy as well now that her incision has healed enough so that she can be immersed in water.  I am so excited that my mom will be flying in tomorrow and staying for a whole week.