Sharon Louise Lakefish

Hi kiddles! And everyone else I loved along the way!

How cool is it that I made it to 75?! Who would've thunk? It ended up feeling like just the perfect amount of time:

Since this is MY obituary, after all, allow me to regale you with the story of my life just one more time. I grew up in New Haven, CT, on an estate named "Overbrook." It WAS over a brook, after all. I started out an east-coast, college-educated, well-mannered girl (kids, don't forget to eat your soup backwards if you are at a "proper" meal!), and I ended up a married lady on the west coast. I really thought life was good back then.

But then I became a mom.

I knew immediately that all of my joy for the rest of my days would come from simply being a mom to Layne Ann and Jonanthan. Whenever I saw raw childhood glee in their faces, it lit up my entire universe. And it inspired me to be constantly more and more creative in my mommyhood endeavors just to see that look again and again.

The home-baked and home-"built and assembled" birthday cakes. S. Claus footprints outlined in snow (white laundry detergent). The annual celebration of Kids' Day. Mr. McBunn and Easter treats hidden all over the house. Carpet picnics on St. Patrick's day with all green-dyed foods. Spaghetti and liver balls (please forgive me for that one!) Halloweens and Christmases on Kensington Square. Dry ice, ghoul mask, black cape! Sleigh rides and tree lighting and Santa with presents for all. Jonny using his halloween costume light saber to protect his big (scaredy pants) sister. Birthday dinners on the "You Are Special Today" red plate. More handmade sports team banners than I care to remember. Ha! "Buff"and "Bump," the cute Easter gift goslings that turned into full-blown geese with anger issues: Remember the day they wrapped their wings around Layne, lifted her up and then threw her to the ground, hissing all the while?!? Or "Oscar Mayer," our pet piglet?

Jonny's early morning soccer games and afternoon tennis matches and after-hours gigs at Outback Steakhouse. or Kim at Shojis. Or the Inn of the 7th Mountain tadpoles, horse stable, campfires, scavenger hunts, Kirk and Barry, "Big Eddy" raft rides, video arcade games, roller skating and ice skating and skiing and the annual outing to find just the perfect Christmas tree...or the year we went with the Charlie Brown tree. Skiers' french toast. Our annual Christmas dinner feast: crab and lobster fettuccine. Sitting in front of the fireplace and roasting marshmallows. Having slumber parties in the hidden built-in bunkbeds and the working playhouse out back. Who knew back then that I was designing the first ever tiny house! Ha! Boulder and Ashland and Eugene and Portland and Bend and New York City and Alba, Italy, and Martha's Vineyard and Jon's famous "European Vacation" that lasted all of one weekend.

Then, Bucket List dreams come true: swimming with dolphins in the Bahamas, whale watching on Maui, reading all of the Booker and Pulitzer prize-winning books, seeing "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway in NYC, revisiting my childhood bedroom at "Overbrook" nearly 50 years later (thanks to Layne's determination - and a little thing others might call "breaking and entering"), riding camels through the Sahara Desert at sunset, seeing the Great Pyramid in Egypt with my own two eyes, visiting Vatican City for Christmas, drinking Starbucks in Istanbul, touring both Rome's Parthenon and Athens' Colisseum (as well as standing in the grassy field where the first Olympic Games were held way back in 776 BC, then 1896), and, finally, Monaco. I fell in love with Monaco. So did Layne.

Then, in a blink, you both became amazing adults. There never existed a more proud mom! My "lil' girl kid" Layne turned into bi-coastal business woman, wearing her heart on her sleeve and always wanting to help. Kindness embodied, with hysterical antics and jokes fit for sailors - and for moms! I never laughed as often or as hard as I did when we were together. And young Jonny became Jon, taking on the corporate world by kicking marketing butt. Then met the woman of his dreams and married her on Maui. Then it happened: Jon became a father - and he found his calling too. Carson and Cameron. They are both blessed with the most devoted, loving father on the planet. What a gift to be a mom watching her son being a dad!

Hey everyone, newsflash: The view is great up here! I'm with all my favorite pets and people who all welcomed me with puppy kisses and open arms. But the best thing is this: I did not leave you. I just went from "mom" to "guardian angel." Now I get to be with both of my children all the time. I hate that there is sadness now where there was once such Big Joy. But I know with absolute certainty that everyone will rise up and land on higher ground. As a brand new guardian angel, I'll see to that. I promise.

Through it all, both the good and not-so-good times, I wouldn't change a thing. I have no regrets and i DEMAND that you have none as well! My children did me so proud - and together, we lived and loved Big. They gave my life meaning and so, so much love. 75 years turned out to be the perfect amount of time needed to enjoy the ride with both of them... and everybody else whose path I had been blessed to cross along the way. What a ride it was!

Farewell, all. Godspeed, my children. I love you so...still.

P.S. In order to comply with obituary "rules and regs":

I was born Sharon Louise Adams on December 9th, 1944, and I died 75 years and 10 days later, on December 19th, 2019. I am survived by my daughter and my grandest puppy, Layne Ann Lakefish, 49, and Shakespeare, and my son, Jonathan Adams Lakefish, 44, his wife Laura and my grandest children Carson and Cameron.