Emily loved her community, her family, her friends, and nature. You’ve already heard about her involvement in the community. Simply, she loved her greater community, to include friends and family, and worked to protect and improve it. Emily embodied the values of a community: empathy, selflessness, integrity, commitment, action, courage, and inclusiveness.
Emily loved nature, as she would say “as long as it is 5 ft away”. We would go on hikes, and Emily would often stop at the sound or appearance of a bird or animal to identify and watch it. She was passionate about all birds, but especially, cardinals and puffins; she lovingly named all herons Fredrick, all bats Keebler (especially the one that lived in our attic for a short time), and all mother and father ducks Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. She had a difficult time parting with trees and scrubs, regardless of how dead or invasive they were. She loved flowers, including iris, lilies, and mums. She would not pass up the opportunity to pet a kitty or puppy. Emily enjoyed the beach more than the mountains of Colorado: she could literally spend the entire day at the beach watching birds, playing with Jane, finding interesting things in the tide pools, and relaxing with family. But don’t confuse her love of the ocean with love of seafood: she would not get near seafood whether alive or fully cooked.
Emily loved almost all forms of entertainment, including poetry, music, literature, TV shows, movies, plays, musicals, and of course dance! Her perfect day would be spending the day at the beach or swimming in the pond, tacos or nachos for dinner, playing family games, watching Star Wars, and dancing around the house afterwards to Disney music. You can read about her favorites more on the celebration website, but they are diverse. She cherished every moment of being a dance mom.
Emily loved shopping and during treatment would call it “retail therapy”. There was rarely a day where there was not a new bag from the Disney store, a Zappos box, clothing from LuLaRoe, bag from ThirtyOne, or a new purse, decorated socks, or handbag. Emily and Jane cherished shopping together.
Emily was a picky eater, but loved good comfort food: tacos and nachos, Italian (especially gnocchi), pizza, mac and cheese, brats, and BBQ.
Emily loved to travel to experience art, new cultures, and good food. We had the opportunity to visit places around New England, the U.S., and Europe. In each place, Emily loved the food and drinks, whether frites, hot chocolate, and brownies in Brussels, Champagne outside of Paris, and wine in Napa Valley. We were also known to frequent art museums, and Emily especially loved the impressionists. In Paris, we went to the Louvre, l'Orangerie, and d’Orsay all in one day; she loved Monet, Degas, and van Gogh. She loved traveling with Jane to share her passions and make Jane happy, whether to the beach or Disney World.
Emily loved to celebrate others and share her experiences with others. She not only enjoyed attending playgroups when Jane was young, but also organized playgroups; she helped to organize adult dance classes and organized the Westford Young Child Network.
Emily loved children, especially her nieces and nephews: she was Auntie Em (or simply TM) to her nephew and godson Tucker. She loved the children of others and especially those of her friends. Perhaps because she knew that she could no longer have more of her own children, she showered these children with love and gifts. She loved to read, play games, or lead songs in playgroup with all children.
But most of all Emily loved Jane. Perhaps aware that she may not get to watch Jane grow into a woman, Emily spent as much time as possible with Jane, exposed Jane to her passions (even when not completely appropriate for a young child, such as all Star Wars movies), snuggled and was silly with Jane, and showered Jane with love and gifts. It is not surprising that our house resembles a toy store, complete with a stuffed zoo.
From Jane: “Mommy loved us a lot, but me most of all”. “Mommy loved us all but the most important thing is we love her.”
There is a quote from one of her favorite movies, the Wizard of Oz: “A heart is shown not by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” I would prefer to rephrase for Emily as “A heart is shown by the love you show for others that can be measured by how much you are loved by others.” By any definition Emily loved, and loved all of us.