As I tried to gather my mental bearings, I tried to make sense of the news and asked for clarification as if I hoped I misunderstood what I was hearing only to realize that this nightmare was the worst kind in that I was awake and this news would not go away.
Maria was one of the brightest and warmest people I've ever known. She was perhaps the most encouraging person I've known as well. She had a way of staying connected while not imposing herself. On Face book, always a "like" and an encouraging comment so that you knew she was reading and investing herself in your life.
For me, we had my dad's brother, Theo Christos who was bound to a wheel chair due to an unfortunate gun accident when he was a very young man. I made it a point to visit him whenever I was home on leave from the Marine Corps and kept it up whenever I'd be in town. She also faithfully visited him. One time, she actually came out to California and visited us and stayed with us in our modest little condo. We talked non stop the entire time she was there sharing a passion for business, and learning in general. She saw I wanted to move from accounting into programming. When she got back home, she sent me a huge box full of software, books, and all kinds of information about the field of programming. More than the super generosity of this treasure she sent was the fact that SHE was THE treasure. She provided me with the assurance that I could do it, I could make the career change. Soon afterwords, I would leave California for Texas in 1994 to start my career and corporation in offering programming services.
She also had a passion for pictures and family. She would be at family functions and she'd send out pictures from the event that had my family in them not even knowing we were being photographed. Yep, that was Maria... she loved the family from a point of view that you knew she was there and that she cared. She was reserved and private and when you needed her, she would be there.
I must also say that I was the ring boy for her mom's wedding. Her mother, Thea Georgia, knew I liked spaghetti and would faithfully cook it for me every time we'd visit her. She was my favorite.. And then still, there was Thea Aremani (not sure of the spelling) her mom's sister, my aunt in Greece who worked morning, noon, and night to be the most amazing host. I'll never forget when she grabbed the translation book I had to ask me if I would forget her when I would go back to the states... NEVER, NEVER, NEVER. And, the brothers of her mom, Theo Tosh, Theo Pete. Theo Tosh, one of the most generous men on the planet. A very successful business man whose success was only bypassed by the help he provided to his workers and the community and Theo Pete, a quiet man, but determined and a hard worker that Theo Tosh could depend on for decades.
What will our generation be remembered for? Maria has started it. Let us take the challenge to pick up where she led and care for each other and be kind and support each other as she did. Much of what I am and have today was started with that box of goods she sent and more importantly, her encouragement and unwavering faith that she shared with me.
I love you Maria, my dear cousin, and I wish I knew for I would have visited you when I was up there this Christmas.
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