This one is from my dad. Content warning: you will cry. 

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My Susie Hochman

The school year had just begun.  “Who is that girl over there?” I say. “That girl, in the yellow cable knit sweater, tartan plaid skirt and yellow knee socks.”   “Yes, That one.  The one with the cute haircut and sparkling smile.  Her golden blond hair just barely touching her slim, perfect neck.  She is beautiful.”  

“Hi, my name is Jeff.”  “I’m Susie.”

The commons begins to empty out, kids going to their next class.  “See you around”

It’s now March, 1969, there’s a dance after the basketball game at the Louie the 9th room and I ask her if she would like to dance.  “Sure”      I knew then, I was in love.

“Phone call for Susie Kirchner.”  “Hi, this is Jeff Hochman, do you want to go out on Saturday night?” “Sure.”  Saturday night comes, I go to her dorm, they call upstairs, “Jeff Hochman is here for you.”  

Susie thinks, Jeff Hochman? I thought my date was with Butch Hartman, the quarterback of the football team?

The semester is over and Susie needs to go back home for the summer.  She shows me a calendar she’s been keeping, noting the days we did something together.  I look at it in amazement, we did something together almost every day, nothing big, just being together. 

The war in Vietnam is raging and I’m in boot camp in South Carolina.  We decide to get married, 9 months later our baby dies at birth.  We are devastated, …we grieve, we hold each other and eventually begin to heal.  We are growing up together.  

After graduation Susie and I decide to spend a year in Warrensburg so I can get a certificate to teach High School Shop.  It’s a good year.  It’s just the two of us.  …We are becoming one.

We’re back in St. Louis.  First there is Jessica and 4 years later JB.  Susie is the most loving and nurturing mother.  She holds them, talks softly to them, caresses them, helps them grow into the strong and capable people they are today.  Because of Susie, we are a family.  

Almost everything we do, we do together, ….she hikes the Tetons, trial rides in Wyoming, we travel to Asia, wake up at 5:00am to see the sunrise over the South China sea,   she is the most amazing partner.  

Susie leads the way in everything she does.  She is an aerobics teacher, a shop keeper, a vintage clothing expert, a designer, a marble and granite expert.  She studies Japanese when she is selling vintage clothing and then studies Italian when she is selling marble and granite.  She is smart, energetic, creative, a good business partner, has a contagious smile, she is easy to talk to.  …She is a powerhouse.  ….At the same time she is soft, loving, approachable, caring, understanding, non judgmental, easy to love.  …everybody loves Susie.

 It's 1995, spring break in Telluride and Susie has a raspy cough,.. all of a sudden she has blood in her hand. … A lot of blood.  

She becomes part of a study at National Jewish Health in Denver.  This condition slows her down, but doesn’t stop her.  

We continue to travel, she is as active as ever, takes her illness in stride, but after losing the battle to a bacterial infection she has to have part of her lung removed.  That is 2007 and the beginning of a slow spiral down.  

We continue to live the fullest life, …growing closer and closer to our amazing children, and grandchildren,… loving, holding, touching, talking, caring, sharing, laughing, …enjoying each other… until last week.    

We knew it was inevitable, but I never knew it would hurt me to the core the way it has.  Everything we did, we did for and with each other.  There hasn’t been a day go by that I didn’t touch her, kiss her, hug her, …tell her I loved her.  I look around our home and she is everywhere, …in my heart and in my soul.   

I have no words to describe how much I love this woman.  

                     --Jeff Hochman