Those who follow me on Twitter or on Facebook already know that my sister-in-law Mary Flesch Min passed away on Thursday morning after a year-long battle with lung cancer. She had fought bravely since being diagnosed in a coma last Christmas Eve, when the doctors thought she’d have no more than a month to live. Instead, she rebounded through chemo and a brave spirit, and perhaps had the best year of her life with her husband Roy. We had hoped she’d see another Christmas, which she loved, but she couldn’t quite make it.
I met Mary for the first time on Christmas. I went over to Marcia’s parents’ house on Christmas evening to spend a little time with them, playing with David’s Christmas gifts and having dinner. Mary blew into the house an hour or so after I arrived — and there was no other way to describe it. Mary loved Christmas, and she was joyous, and joyously loud and exuberant. She spent about an hour with us as I recall, and Marcia said after she left, “That was Hurricane Mary.”
It was awesome. In every sense of the word.
Mary was always at her most delighted at the holidays. She showed up in a full elf costume on Christmas day once or twice while we still lived in Southern California, and I imagine she did so after we moved to Minnesota, even though we weren’t around to see it. She never got over her child-like delight with the holiday, and she made it all the more delightful for the rest of us.
It’s going to be difficult to go through Christmas this year without thinking of all those wonderful memories, and I wouldn’t want to do so anyway.
There are a lot of arrangements to be made, and I’m doing my best to assist in them. I won’t be around much this week on the site, on Twitter, or on Facebook as a result. Fortunately for me, I am blessed with wonderful friends who are also colleagues here at Hot Air and elsewhere — Allahpundit, Erika, Mary Katharine, Jazz, Guy, Kevin, Steve, and Jeff, who are working hard to give me enough space to handle things this week. I wanted to take a moment to share with readers who have already lifted us up in prayer and good wishes about what is happening, and a little bit about Mary, who died far too young at 51. We are going to miss her every Christmas, and every other day of the year, too.
Godspeed, Big Sis. We love you so much.
