Saying Goodbye

This past week we lost my stepmother Lois Buerkle after a 3 ½ year battle with cancer. She was surrounded by her family until the end. She is the reason we came back from Nicaragua in August. We have been spending the last three months in Winston-Salem helping to care for Lois and spending time with her and my dad. 

Part of our plan for leaving our traditional 9-5 lives is to be able to spend more time with family. We are so glad we took the leap. Getting to spend three months with my dad and with Lois helping keep her comfortable was a blessing. 

Lois became a part of our family when I was 4 years old. I do not remember my life before she came into it. Michael knew her for 17 years. My dad and Lois were married for 34 years and they were perfect for each other.  I was 4, Seth was 6 and Sam was 10 when we first met her. She was a natural fit and we were lucky enough to grow up with two great moms.

Lois taught me how to bake. She took me to soccer games and friends’ houses. I went with her to get my first and last perm. She was at all of my big life events like my graduations, and our wedding. She stayed with us for several weeks after Lucas and Henry were born. I learned a lot about being a mom from Lois.

I learned to love traveling from Lois and my dad. They traveled all over the world and we got to come along for many of those trips. We went to Australia, Spain, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. We went on amazing ski vacations in Vail, Colorado, and fun beach vacations in South Carolina and Georgia.

Lois’ Hebrew name is אֵלָה (Elah), which means oak tree. It is fitting because she was the epitome of strength and stability. Lois was never one to step into the limelight. She was always in the background making sure everyone else was taken care of. 

She lived her life in the service of others. She was an OB nurse at Yale, New Haven Hospital, and Forsyth Medical Center before working as an OB nurse educator for the High-Risk OB department at Wake Forest School of Medicine. She was a mom to 5 kids and a grandma to 8 grandchildren.

We are sad. We will miss her every day. She was taken too soon, but we will cherish the time that we had with her and the memories that we carry with us. We love you, Lois.