So with her entire building in attendance for her Pre 100 Birthday Party poolside she was most proud of her Grandson Chris singing Happy Birthday. A love only a Grandmother can know..

During the summer when residents went back North, Maria took out her art supplies and started to paint. She was prolific at the task. When Bella, her dog passed away, she needed to concentrate on something to help her heal. This was the perfect outlet.  She would spend hours on her art books to make the day go by faster. 

When I first saw her completed book, I was blown away by her sense of color, her accuracy and steady hand and her awareness of line, shape and form to create an interesting composition. She really gave it a lot of thought and enjoyed doing it. I was so proud of her!.                     

I showed my sister Patti, her art work and she told Maria that we should enter her work in an Art Show so everyone can see her special talent at age 97!.  Her face lit up with the most beautiful smile. "You are a true artist, Maria!" This really excited her and motivated her to continue. By the end of November 2019 she completed almost 6-8 books and her last two canvas paintings. One is a Butterfly and the other is a Flamingo.  I was honored and inspired to have this special gift from my beautiful mother in law, the artist!  

I'm so bad about this terrible news, but God knows everything, I hope that you're in a better place , thank you to spending lot of hours in a good conversation in the phone , I'll miss you a lot . R.I.P

So Mary’s Beloved most loved pet of all time was Bella the Yorkie who passed unexpectedly when mom just turned 98 years old.  Poor mom was so depressed and lonely that she tried to spend as much time as she could painting. I had to go out of town and asked mom to watch my two animals: Biggie the maine coon  and Baby the Himalayan kitty. 

It was love at first sight as Baby adored mom and The feeling was mutual. So much so that  Baby had her own bed on mom‘s bed and they slept together and played under the covers nightly. On mom‘s last day, Baby was next to mom the entire time and wouldn’t leave the bed even when the paramedics took mom - Baby wouldn’t budge.

 I guess the moral of the story is that it’s never too late to fall in love....even at 98

Some of my fondest memories of Vovozinha (Portuguese for Grandma) occurred during sleepovers at her condo in Fort Lauderdale. My brother John and I spent countless days with Vovozinha in our youth, and every one of them was always filled with great memories and new adventures. Some days we'd pretend to be dolphins flipping about in the pool, or we'd play in the sand on the beach while Vovozinha watched over us. Other days we'd be fascinated by Vovozinha's collection of parakeets, or we'd enjoy people watching from the comfort of her veranda. Every single night we'd hope beyond hope that Vovozinha would grace our bellies with some of her legendary carne vinha d'alhos da madeira (Madeiran Pork Marinated in Garlic and Wine) that, despite my best efforts to replicate, I have never been able to perfect on my own. We'd spend our nights watching old time favorites on "Nick at Night" from a sleeper sofa, or we'd cuddle up in bed and laugh about things that only kids and grandmothers laugh about. So many nights, so many adventures, so many memories, so many good times - all with the woman that my brother and I will always lovingly call "Vovozinha."

So I thought when my mom turned 96  she would like it if I could prepare her with a mobility machine that she could learn to use in her later years. Well I did a lot of research and found the perfect mobility machine for her. What I didn’t know was that she  never intended to do anything with it other than go for a joyride in my neighborhood. 

She also gave me the pleasure of taking it for a spin around the W Hotel one day. After that it sat in her dining room corner because she said “if I don’t use it I will lose it “. Although my intentions were helpful I now realize that I need to find someone unfortunate that this can make a change in their life as I know that’s what my mother would like me to do with her machine. Here she is taking it for a spin.

My mom amazingly was really never sick during her long life, she ate a very Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, fish, kale and vegetables. She was healthy and sharp until the end, she only took blood pressure medicine. Except for common colds and arthritis, I really don't remember my mom being sick. She did not like hospitals and said that is where old people go to die. Her wish was to pass at home and she was adamant that we not take her to the hospital and try to do life saving measures. Funny enough, she did not trust that my brother or I would not follow her wish so next to her phone and on her mantel, she had a note saying 'Do not take me to the hospital'. Also when we went to look in her wallet, next to her medicare card, she had the attached note to make sure we did not take her ;-)