Saturday, April 18, 2020
/public-file/1364/Ultra/6afa13d3-7877-4b3e-9ca5-648976d8b25a.jpg
Michael
I first met Michael when I was 12 years old. I had just moved up to the little front bedroom at our family home and so, I had first shot at seeing visitors coming to the front door. Michael was coming for his first date night with Denise, and I rushed to the front door to greet him and get a first look. Michael always loved telling the story of that moment, laughing at how he thought I was Denise and his mind was racing with thoughts, “she looks much younger than I remember. And, is this even legal”!
Over the next 4 years, as Denise and Mike navigated college, I navigated high school, with the best older brother I could have wished. Memories of Michael helping me learn to drive stick shift in his Jeep in the A&S parking lot, Michael dropping in to check on me when I pulled late night shifts at “Dungeon Donuts” because my skirts were “way too short” and those LILCO line men needed to be brushed back. But, the best memories were of cutting school and driving out to Riverhead or Cold Spring Harbor or Montauk with Mike. Michael had a real fondness for the rebel, the truant, the misfit adolescent. Other than my sisters, he was the person in my life, who had been there and seen it all, 53 years of my journey. And, through it all, he had my back. I will miss him terribly.
My thoughts tonight are for my sister, Denise, and Peter and Sarah, who had to suffer this heartbreaking loss in the setting of the Coronavirus Crisis. And so, confined to their homes by state order to “shelter in place” they were denied visits with Michael in his final weeks, and denied the presence and support of those, like me, who would want come to help them now. I send you all my love.
Andrea
