NOT SO VERY LONG AGO

In a small town in Southern California called Burbank, once upon a time lived this wonderful lady. She was a lady of substance, glamorous without trying, and fair of both sight and soul. Her heart was constructed out of the fibers of compassion and understanding, glued by her intelligence and humor, she was an incredible lady.

Her name was Courtney Hyde Del Broccolo, but I called her; ‘Amazing’ that was all she needed. She might have disagreed with my assessment, but I know better, I am older than she.

One of the things that she did was excel in all she endeavored to do and excelled more than anyone could. She was competitive and it was her burning underside to her character and achievement, it is how she could perfect herself to a lower point of ‘Human’. As I said, she was ‘amazing!’

Something truly amazing (there’s that word again) happened a few years ago, I feel like it was yesterday, but it was not, on a hot overcast day in York, Maine, she married my #1 Son. It was an incredible wedding with enough imagination to earn a place in the Cleo Awards for advertising the banquet hall all decked out in 1950 and 1960 advertising and life memorabilia. People came from many distances for this wedding and no one felt it was not worth it.

Then something else amazing happened (I can’t get away from the word) she gave birth to this beautiful little angel she named Darby, fair and brilliant, just like her mom! Darby Shea was a great gift to her grandparents on both sides. We were four very blessed and lucky people.

As life goes on, so must it end, and in one hundred years from now little will be remembered of it. Four years after gifting the whole world with Darby, Courtney gave birth to Robert Courtney and as she did, gave her last breaths to the child before succumbing during the birth.
I always love to travel to Burbank, to experience the wonderful times we all spent with Courtney that can never be taken away from me. The restaurants, stores and even the errands that we ran along with her as she lived for her husband Anthony and little Darby. Be it a birthday party or her graduation, a trip to the aquarium in Long Beach or a dance recital of Darby’s, it was all time, valuable time, well spent with the Amazing one.

We miss her terribly, but as she passed through this life, she left us with one more amazing gift, her son Robert Courtney, so filled with life and mischief, love and affection he like his big sister will fill a void I call: Amazing.

Today is her birthday and as I look at what she did, I think: Amazing!