Patricia Schuler Obituary

I knew it when I opened the Christmas card and there was only one name on the inside.
Pat Schuler, my Auntie Peaches, was my godmother. She and her husband Bob were frequent guests at our house when I was young and they had a lasting impression on me. Bob was my confirmation sponsor when I was a kid and I found out later that he was the stand-in for my actual godfather when I was christened.
I was in high school when it finally dawned on me that Peaches wasn't my aunt at all; she was my mother's neice, not my mother's sister. My mother (also Patricia) and her were close to the same age and they spent alot of their youth together. I believe a picture from their prom hangs in my house.
I would make sure that every trip back to Chicago included a stopover to her house, especially when my kids were young. She would sit at the table, holding one of my daughters on her lap, while her poodles yapped around the kitchen.
I have never forgotten the advice she gave me at my mother's funeral over ten years ago, and I have tried my best to live up to the expectations she had of me.
Take your walk through the clouds, give my mother and Grandma Mary a hug when you see them and share memories with the Zytniowski clan.