For UB

Earlier this year Mike and I visited Cleveland twice in two months. At the time I didn’t elaborate because it was really hard to talk about.

In April we found out my Dad’s uncle (who was a huge part of my life) was very ill - the entire family basically dropped everything to visit him while we could.  Mike and I flew in to meet my family on a Saturday morning and flew back to Richmond the next day. The six of us spent a wonderful weekend with him and I am so thankful we were able to make the trip.

Sadly, we were back in Cleveland for his funeral a month later.  My family constantly amazes me; a trip that could have been incredibly sad was highlighted with lots of love, laughter and time spent with the ones we care about.

I fell even more in love with Mike that weekend because he was my rock and did everything possible to help. There were many times when I would look for him, only to find him consoling a family member. He is amazing.

The point is this: my uncle was an incredible man. He treated my brother and I like his children and was present for every big event in our lives

Most importantly, he was Italian and proud of it! Last Christmas he taught us the recipe for his secret spaghetti sauce. I’ll never forget him telling us “You can change whatever you want in this recipe, but if you do, don’t you dare tell anyone it’s my sauce.”

He was loving and kind, yet didn’t hesitate to let you know when you were out of line. He was outspoken and funny and taught me that family.means.everything.

Mike and I were included in his trust and we received the gift a few weeks back. We spent a lot of time talking about trips we could take, the items we could finally purchase. We knew we wanted to do something in my uncle's honor. In the end, we both agreed the best tribute would be to treat ourselves to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, with a big bottle of red wine.

Tonight we went to La Grotta and did just that.

And it was amazing.

We know UB would have approved.