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To quote Judy Collins: \xa0 \u201cIsn't it rich? Are we a pair? Me here at last on the ground, You in mid-air, Where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns\u201d \xa0 On behalf of my Dad and the woman who gave my siblings and I life, who in turn gave life to her grandchildren\u2026We want to thank you with all of our hearts for being here today. \xa0 I\u2019m Stephen John, Loretta\u2019s first child and like you, I will always miss her. \xa0 But then there\u2019s this weird thing, and I know my Mom was keenly aware of this: \u201cthe phenomenon of living on in your progeny\u201d \xa0 Her influence, taste, opinion, knowledge, philosophy, story and voice\u2026will continue to live on within us. \xa0 My Mom, or \u201cRa Ra\u201d as her grandchildren call her, was always good at remembering special days with a card. Every year on Ellen\u2019s birthday (December 25th) she\u2019d write \u201cyou\u2019re still my best Christmas present ever!\u201d on her birthday card\u2026and so on Christmas Day, 2009 when Ellen broke the news that she was pregnant with the twins giving my Mom a framed print of the ultrasound: Mom squealed loudly with joy and said \u201cEllen, If you EVER need ANY help with the kids, I mean ANYTHING just let me know\u2026I\u2019ll send Dad over.\u201d \xa0 I used to joke with her that she was the curator of \u201cCliche Hell\u201d\u2026because she would always have just the right hackneyed phrase of wit to underscore the situation. \xa0 If something went wrong she\u2019d say: \u201cWhen life gives you lemons make lemonade\u201d \xa0 If you were feeling pressure or tension she\u2019d say: \u201cStressed spelled backwards is dessert\u201d \xa0 If you listen very carefully you can still hear her now: \u201cStephen\u201d, she\u2019ll say: \xa0 SUSAN: \u201cThose of you who think you know so much are very annoying to those of us who do\u201d. \xa0 See what I mean? She had a knack for comic delivery. \xa0 My Mom, Loretta: is obviously still with us: she has influenced and metaphorically touched us in ways that we can\u2019t understand at the momement. \xa0 You may have heard some of us use the phrase \u201cTri-si-so\u201d.\xa0 It\u2019s a term of endearment of which I am the author ,but there\u2019s an element of body language associated with it you may not know about. When I was a child, before developing this amazing skill of speech, my Mom would ask: \u201cStephen, how much do you love me?\u201d to which I\u2019d respond, arms open wide \u201cTri-Si-So\u201d.\xa0 It means \u201cThis much: With all my heart\u201d. \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 You want to experience my Mom\u2019s presence? That\u2019s easy: just spend some time with her children. \xa0 Ellen will demonstrate her strength, Susan will demonstrate her love of friends and family, Mark will demonstrate his kindness to creatures great and small. Her grandchildren will demonstrate her love of adventure, stories and giving. \xa0 And I, I can tell you of her compassion, it wasn\u2019t just \u201cdo unto others as you would have them do unto you\u201d kind of compassion\u2026she was more of a \u201cbe kind to others\u201d kinda person. She always voted for the party of \u201cdo no harm\u201d: JFK, RFK, Carter, Clinton, and Obama: you\u2019re welcome\u2026she even voted with compassion. \xa0 Whenever we had a problem... Moms solution was always to follow the path of kindness. \xa0 My Mom, Loretta, was a big beliver in authenticty: she taught her children and grandchildren to embrace the experiences of life, to cherish the arts of theatre, music, food, and the epic shouts and laughter of an Italian Family Dinner. \xa0 She traveled the world and encouraged us to do the same\u2026not just to see the world, but to taste, hear, smell and feel it.\xa0 She wanted us to experience the world fully and authentically.\xa0 \xa0 Mom and Dad didn\u2019t just visit Italy, They emersed themselves in it, savoring the land of her ancestors. \xa0 Last Thursday I asked my Dad go to Fenway with me for game one of the ALCS. He didn\u2019t want to leave Mom alone, of course. She died holding his hand. \u201cDon\u2019t leave me\u201d she said, her last words in life. As you\u2019d expect: He didn\u2019t. \xa0 When my siblings, neices and nephews were children, my Mom would read to us and encouraged us to do so as well. Mom is why her children and grandchildren have always loved to read\u2026except maybe for Johnny, because: well\u2026he\u2019s Johnny. \xa0 \u201cThe Giving Tree\u201d, \u201cJonathan Livingston Seagull\u201d, \u201cOh, the Places You'll Go!\u201d, \u201cStrega Nona\u201d and of course Antoine de Saint-Exupery\u2019s \u201cThe Little Prince\u201d were some of her favorites. \xa0 In a special scene near the end of the book, it\u2019s been a year since The Little Prince had left his planet, and he was going home.\xa0 Saint-Exupery writes: \xa0 \u201c\u2026And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better, like that. My star will be just one of the stars for you. And so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens\u2026they will all be your friends. And besides I am going to make you a present\u2026 \xa0 He laughed again. \xa0 \u201cAh, little Prince, dear little prince! I love to hear that laughter!\u201d. \xa0 \u201cThat is my present.\xa0 Just that\u2026It will be as it was when we drank the water\u2026\u201d \xa0 \u201cWhat are you trying to say?\u201d \xa0 \u201cAll men have the stars,\u201d he answered, \u201cbut they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides.\xa0 For others, they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems.\xa0 For my businessmen they were wealth.\xa0 But all these stars are silent. You - you alone - will have the stars as no one else has them -\u201c \xa0 \u201cWhat are you trying to say?\u201d \xa0 In one of those stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night. You - only you - will have stars that can laugh\u201d. \xa0 I think that\u2019s what my Mom was trying to tell us all these years: \xa0 Enjoy simply Feel deeply Think freely Dance as though no one is watching Love as though you\u2019ve never been hurt before Sing as though no one can hear you Live well Laugh often Love much and be kind. \xa0 I love you Mom, Tree-si-so with all my heart.