How do you sum up a life in 1,200 words?
Mime Jo Fusaro December 27th, 1972- March 15, 2012
Eulogy by her Husband Christopher P. Fusaro
I want to paint you a picture of a girl who grew into a beautiful woman. Her name is Mimie Jo Fusaro. Mimie was born to Ronald and Chae Marquez on December 27th, 1972, and was raised in a working-class area of Thornton, Colorado. She was the 2nd child in a sisterhood of four beautiful sisters, Tina (the oldest), Kimberly (the middle), and Holly (the baby). Mimie would often talk about her sisters and their children, Emily and Josh, Alexa and John (Mico), and Elias. She loved them all deeply, and they were always on her mind. She always remembered a birthday or any other special occasion. Mimie always had a new story regarding her sisterhood with her siblings. And cherished all the moments they shared. She loved them and never forgot the special bond that only sisters can understand.
Mimie’s parents worked hard to provide for the needs of all four girls. And Mimie always told me that they never went without. Their Christmas was filled with gifts, and she said that they never had to worry about anything because her parents provided what they needed for trips like California and Yellow Stone National Park or her dad giving her her first car, a Dodge Dart, which she said, she was never ungrateful for, she just assumed that after her father lived with 5 girls, her dad wanted a boy at some point and gave her the Dodge because that’s what he would have bought his son. Her mom was a hard worker for a restaurant, and even after her long hours at the restaurant, her mom would come home and cook for everyone. Chae, Mimie loves you profoundly and is always worried about you. She loves you beyond these words that I could try to use to express that kind of daughter/mother love here. Mimie loves all her family and friends and is closest to those here today. Dawn, Mimie valued you and your opinion so much. You were a good friend to her, and she loves you like a sister. Kim, what can one say. You have been friends since Junior High School. Your overnight flight from Korea, while your husband works for the embassy there, says almost everything your friendship was about. And she loves you, too. As time passes, so do people and their needs; sometimes, they must follow their own path in life. Mimie was no different. She left a four-year relationship and decided right then, and there that she would go to college. Mimie was very strong-willed and made it a point to let others know with her personalized Colorado License Plate that read “set goals.” She worked and went to school, chipping away at her degree until a new discovery…
Mimie and I were trendsetters/trailblazers without even knowing it. We met on the Internet in the summer of 1998. Now, it isn’t as uncommon to meet in places like eHarmony. Back in 1998, it wasn’t as expected.
So we would tell people, “It was a spring break thing,” rather than AOL.
After months and months of talking on the phone and renting Blockbuster Videos to watch movies by timing the placement into the VCR simultaneously and hitting “play,” we finally met in May of 1999. It was love at first sight. After convincing her that the hotel she got was in a less-than-desirable area, she decided she would stay with me at my dad’s place. And we spent our first date that night in a diner with my father as a chaperone.
The dating went back and forth, traveling from state to state until finally, Mimie called me and told me she was moving down. After I told her I had a job interview with the Maitland Police Department and couldn’t fly out right away, I somehow placed the interview on hold and found myself on a plane to Colorado to prepare for our long drive back to Florida in the middle of winter. The things you do for love.
Mime is very caring. She loves make-up, and now, I believe her favorite job would have been at Macy’s as a make-up artist. She always said she loved the work and that the free make-up was just a perk. 100 lip glosses in her bathroom later. I think it was the latter.
She worked hard on her degree in Business Administration with a Major in Management Information Systems from Floirda Atlantic University, and she was everyone’s go-to tech support. In contrast, she worked from home as a hard-working stay-at-home mom. She also types fast. I used her 90 words per minute on many reports during my police career. There wasn’t a task she couldn’t manage, or she couldn’t Google to solve your problem. She has a great wit and loves to play board games or any games on an iPhone app. If you ever got badly beaten in Words with Friends during random play, chances are it was probably her. Mimie was born with many gifts she offered life, but her most significant gift was yet to come.
I have never met a stronger, determined individual in my life. I never shied away from strong women, and Mimie was the strongest I have ever encountered. In 2005, we learned that she was pregnant. Overcome with the news, we quickly set up an ultrasound, where we discovered we were having twins. She was so courageous. As most of you know what happened, we lost them the same day we were scheduled to give birth to them. It was a devastating blow. And a significant loss to both mom and dad, something Mimie would never recover from. But she was a trooper, and Mimie pressed on, and she would go on to have the loves of her life.
Our sons Nico and Christopher meant the world to her. I’d get 20 picture texts daily from each new position they moved. There are so many pictures that I could use in a stop-motion movie. Every morning, she’d get up and start their day by opening their bedroom door and announcing, “Hi, good morning.”
You see, a mother’s love runs deep. I loved my sons from the moment they were born. My wife, Mimie, loved them from the moment of their conception.
I can only hope to be the person she is, the mother she is, because anything less will be unfair to our boys. I will work tirelessly to permanently honor her as the woman and mother our boys love from the very moment they woke up to the sound of her voice. To the glide of her hand down their back when they were placed in bed. Mime, they will NEVER forget you from now until the moment I see you in heaven.
I love you. And Nico and Christopher love you, too, with all their heart. After all, they’re your boys.
Christopher Fusaro is the author of Captain Imperfecto.
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