Passion & purpose: A true legacy

My mom & I with MayMarie in her prized garden

A few months ago, we lost an amazing and inspirational woman, MayMarie Conte.  She was a long time customer, a friend, and over the years had become an avid pen pal with my grandmother.  They had met and hit it off sometime in the mid 90's and kept up an ongoing correspondence for years.

At the time, some people asked if I was going to write a blog about her. Seems that all major life events are commemorated in social media these days, as if the cyber world brings us some closure.

I didn't write anything.  My choice was to mourn quietly.

This week I had the honor of being invited by two of MayMarie's friends to come over to her home before the last of her belongings were to be taken away.  An estate sale had been held earlier this fall, but again, I opted not to attend, preferring my memories to any trinkets I could have purchased from her life.

I was grateful when her friend Barbara gave me a few of her beautiful belongings to remember her by, but more than that I was struck by something Barbara shared.

She said MayMarie had been cremated wearing her scrubs and a Jazzercise Breast Cancer Fundraiser t-shirt.

The first thing that came to my mind were the words.... Passion & Purpose.

As in life, her choice at the end was to go forth with passion & purpose.

MayMarie was the consummate nurse.  It was her vocation, but it was also her passion.  Nursing was her purpose on this earth.

She was also a breast cancer survivor. Maintaining her health was paramount and she exercised regularly, which included fifteen years of Jazzercise workouts.  Jazzercise was one of her many passions and she no doubt did it with purpose, even when it was clear that it took painstaking effort just to get up the stairs to our studio.

She was a woman who lived her life with passion & purpose in every way.

This Christmas when I set my table with MayMarie's beautiful Irish linens and napkins, I will  give thanks for her beautiful legacy, and I will step in the New Year with as much passion & purpose as I can muster.  

And maybe a tiara and a bit of red lipstick too.

A much appreciated visit to celebrate my 20th Jazzercise Anniversary