Vanessa Stamper
My mom was the strongest woman I have ever known. She was not only my mom but my best friend. I have never met anyone with a kinder heart then her. We did everything together from my childhood all the way up to adulthood after I had my own children. When I was little she used to take me and my brother sleigh riding in the snow and build snowmen and snow angels in the winter. In the summer she helped us build lemonade stands and sell lemonade in front of our house. She was the troop leader when I was in girl scouts and we used to bake cookies for all my troop meetings, drove me and the other girl scouts to all the neighborhoods to sell cookies, stood in the freezing cold to take us christmas caroling. When my friends would come over we would all sit around the table while she would make her famous pizza on english muffins for us eat and watch movies after.
Some of my fondest memories were the holidays. My mom was a proud italian woman who took her recipes and cooking very serious. There was nothing she loved more then cooking for her family. She would spend days preparing for the holidays and cooking food. She would always show me her special ways of doing everything while telling me stories of how my grandma Trozzo taught her how to make italian meatballs and how when she first was learning to cook meatballs, she cooked them for dinner for my dad and her brothers and they turned out so hard they were bouncing them off the table and ceiling . Of course she got alot better since then and her meatballs were delicious like no other and something I looked forward to every year.
When I got older and had kids of my own she was the best grandma and lived for her grandkids. I couldnt have asked for a better grandma for my kids. She was always there for me and them no matter what .She was someone for them to look up to , she taught them all how to cook her recipes and was sometimes so particular about her ways of doing things my kids would tease her and call her Chef Ramsey and it would make us all laugh!! She passed all of her wisdom down to them and taught them so much I am forever grateful. She was our biggest supporter and like a second mother to them. Anywhere we went she was there with us, trips to the beach, hunting Easter eggs, 4th of July fireworks, trick or treating and all the school functions with whatever the kids were doing whether it was just a speech at school to band practices and recitals, chorus concerts, award ceremonies and football games. I was so lucky I had her by my side to cheer them on. We loved to go to the pumpkin patches and look at Christmas lights every year at dorothy oven park. It was our tradition that we continued when my granddaughter was born and she became a great grandma. My mom and Cheyanne had a special bond and you could see her eyes sparkle anytime she was around her and Cheyanne looked forward to and enjoyed each and every moment she got to spend with her.
These are only a few memories out of a lifetime I had with her. Nothing I could ever express on paper could explain the bond of love and friendship I had with her, she will always have my heart forever and until we meet again.