I’ve been blessed in my lifetime, that I have had some of the most remarkable people come into my life; whether or not they stayed for an extended time doesn’t matter.  What matters most is how they have each touched me and how they have had an impact on my life in becoming the woman I am today.

 Theresa DeGennaro is one of those people.  She was someone I lived across the street from, growing up, from 7th grade to graduation.  There were some really cool things about where we lived, too.  For one thing, I am the oldest of three girls (no boys) and the house that my parents own (to this day) is the same house where Theresa’s mother grew up with her two sisters (no boys).  In the front yard of my parents’ house is a beautiful magnolia tree that Theresa’s mom and aunts gave to their mother one mother’s day and the plant had 3 distinctive roots!  Today that tree is taller than the house!

When I lived in New York I shared a house with a woman in her sixties, who’s children were grown and her husband had passed away.  She was a psychotherapist and had an office in our house.  The first time we met I was 20 years old and working for the airline.  At the ripe old age of 20, I was pretty sure I was more knowledgable and more well-traveled than this grandmother from Long Island.  Boy, did I eat those thoughts!  She mentioned she enjoyed traveling and my thought was, “yeah, back and for to Miami, no doubt.”  What a snot I was!  No, she’d been to Europe, Russia (that’s what we called it in 1983) and every place I’ve ever dreamt of visiting.  She wasn’t a tourist, either, when she traveled she would sometimes live there for several weeks and allow herself to become engulfed in the culture.  She was such a neat lady!  When we decided that I would rent a room from her, she had one rule; “If you are going to be sleeping with a man, you will do it at his house!”  I can vividly remember my 20 year old face turning bright, bright red at that comment and I just nodded my head to her. 

Bernadette worked at the airport and was a supervisor.  To me, she was the coolest lady I’d ever met.  She was 10 years my senior and used to say things like, “if I ever have a daughter one day, Jill, I hope she’s just like you.”  I took to calling her Mom after that.  She was beautiful and carried herself with a quiet elegance that literally had people walking past her stop and stare.  I have seen men and women loose their footing because she walked past and they were so busy watching her that they forgot they were in a busy airport!  She had an exotic look about her, she was dark complected with big brown eyes, a deep raspy voice and the most gorgeous smile.  She was at least 5′ 10″ and she knew how to carry herself with such style and grace.  I know there were a lot of women who were jealous as hell of her and everytime I would hear someone say something about her I would make a comment about how “we all wished for her level of perfection,” and I would chock the comment up to sour grapes.   You couldn’t help but admire her, if just for her looks; but the thing is she was a smart lady with the kind of charisma and aura that you usually only read about.  Sure, people envied her and I just loved being her friend.  I was blown away everytime she would call me over at work just to check in and see how I was doing or would invite me to a party at her home.  I can’t help but wonder what her life is like today, 20 years later.  I know one thing for sure — she’s one of those really special people that I think of often and when I do, I can’t help but smile out loud.