In Memoriam

On Thursday evening, Robert's cousin Maria Julia "Maju" passed away. She had been fighting leukemia for the past 4-5 years. She was born and raised in Bolivia but moved to Miami as a young adult. When we were down there, we got to visit her a number of times. We are very grateful we got to see her since she passed away only five days after we got home. Robert and Maju were quite close. She was 5-6 years older than him. While he was in high school and college, he would spend a good portion of his summers staying with her in Miami. When her daughter was a baby, Robert and his mom spent the summer months taking care of her so Maju didn't have to get a babysitter. I first met Maju in May 2000. Rob and I had just graduated from college and we wanted to celebrate, so we took a trip to Miami. We stayed with Maju. She was the first relative of Robert's that I had met. She loved photography and always requested pictures of Adam and Matt to put up in her apartment. As this photo depicts, she was ALWAYS smiling and cheerful. That's how we'll always remember her.