Tea with Jessica

Hey soo i was about to drink my tea when i thought about dad hardcore and i just remembered how he always had so many different types of tea all the time and i guess i just wanted to share it with you cause instead of a missing that was sad it was ok, like a nice reminder instead of one that makes you want to cry....i love you and i hope you're having an awesome sunday =)

"Chris Moore did"

Catherine Hills, a friend of Chris' and former client as Health and Safety Coordinator for
Marin Horizon School writes:

I didn't eat anything special but I do have something to share. One of the last projects Chris helped me with was encouraging the school to build a special disaster shed. I had to move into the new shed without Chris. and just recently, he would have been so pleased, I got a bunch of parent volunteers to help update our supplies. They were so impressed by all the work that I did with Chris, the color coding, the rolling carts, the incident command center. They all said WOW!. They kept saying, "you did all this?" and I kept saying, "No Chris Moore did."

Coffee with Jenny

In honor of Chris' birthday, I got a really nice cup of Blue Bottle coffee on my way to work.
I remember how much he and my mommy liked their coffee in the morning. Happy Birthday Chris. We
all miss you, especially on your birthday.

A Day with Pattie

March 31, 2011

My very dear Christopher,

Today you would have been 58.

The day was harder than I thought it would be. I’ve learned that some days are like that.

I had visions of cooking and eating all day, and the truth was, I didn’t have much on an appetite or energy for either. So I punted. 

I started out the day with my favorite breakfast that you used to make for me. Toasted whole wheat bread, melted sharp cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and lots of garlic. You were not here to make it, but I remember the recipe. I set out to drink coffee out of the famous “bunny” mug, but opted for the usual espresso. Using the bunny mug today made me too sad.

On my way to the office, I stopped by the Alviso Baylands. I did “our walk,” and sat on “our bench.” The harbor project is finished and there is a boat ramp now.

At lunch, I went to our favorite neighborhood place, Taqueria La Bamba, where I got the Super Chicken Burrito that we always used to split. I don’t think I ate but about two bites of mine. I put your half on a plate, just because, and the lady took a picture for me.

In the late afternoon, I went for a walk and took pictures of these tulips at Stanford. I remember how we used to have tulips in both houses, and how we often bought them on the way home from Half Moon Bay. Seeing tulips reminds me of you and brings a smile to my face. You would have thought these tulips were beautiful.

I had a friend take this picture of me with my new dog, LuLu. She is the small dog that we talked about getting ... she came to me 4 months after you left. She’s a great girl, small, spunky, and loyal. She and I have become certified in pet therapy, just like we wanted to do with “the next dog.” LuLu and I are bringing smiles to people at Packard Children’s Hospital, Ronald McDonald House, and Channing House. Every time we go to “work,” I think of you.

I went out to your birthday dinner with Abby, where we had a great chopped salad and shrimp in marinara sauce with chilies and garlic bread. 

I thought of it, but couldn’t quite bring myself to do the full blown birthday cake thing. Instead, I came home to a See’s piece of marzipan and 4 sour gummy bunnies. See’s Marzipan was your favorite, and you were always a sucker for sour gummies. You would have thought the gummy bunnies were cute. The restraint that I used with “portion control” was remarkable, especially given the day. If someone were there to take my picture, I must have looked like the loneliest widow in the world, eating chocolate and gummy bunnies alone in bed!

Honestly reflecting on your 58th birthday, it was a very difficult day for me. Fortunately, there are many fewer difficult days than there used to be. I embrace the difficult days as yet another reminder of how much I loved you. 

More often than not, these days,I smile when I think of you. You’d be happy about that. Many people don’t ever have what you and I had for way too short a while. We were so very lucky. You remain one of the greatest gifts of my life and I’m forever grateful for the time we had together.

Happy Birthday to you! I, and so many others, are so glad that you were born!

Love you forever,

Your WTB, Pattie

xoxox

Dinner with Peter & Michael

from Peter and Michael in Amsterdam, Netherlands:

We hope last night was everything you and the Girls hoped it would be!!!!!

We had Cream of Mushroom soup and amazing Crusty Bread....

Lunch with Mark

Mark Levinson (Pattie's brother) from Sydney, Australia:

Snuck in a thought with some peking duck and a small toast of red wine unbeknowst to my (work) lunch party of 9

Dessert with Don & Aunt Julianne

We are on our way home from vacation and stopped at Don's favorite purveyor of oreo milkshakes. Thinking of you all

Dessert with Matt & Sarah

Here is a picture of the dessert Sarah and I had the other night, to remember Chris. During his last visit, I was about to sit down and enjoy a bowl of ice cream, and he told me that there was something I just had to try. Then he got a bottle of rum and poured some rum over my chocolate ice cream. And it was delicious! The other day, on Chris' birthday, I went out and bought a bottle of rum. Turns out Sarah had the same idea, and also bought a bottle of rum. Looks like we'll be having a lot of rum sundaes!

Dinner with Amber & Friends

Salad with romaine, avocado, baby peppers, mango, cucumber, tomato, onions, and homemade balsamic dressing

The smelliest blue cheese for the salad

grapes

Olives stuffed with blue cheese, garlic, pits  and almonds

Rosemary Olive Oil bread and french baguette

Brie, Gouda, and roasted garlic

Roast Chicken seasoned with about a head of garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil

Don't worry there was also three bottles of red wine. 

I gathered together Kayla, Kel, Leigh, Duffy and Sarge to share the pictured meal with. We drank, ate, and laughed in your honor. It has been a long journey since you left us and your time here was much too short, but when I think of you I will always smile and think of the best memories that we shared, because that is what you would have wanted. I love and miss you more than anything Dad and I know that you are watching over all of us. Happy Birthday Dad :) xoxoxox

Dinner with Amanda

In Honor of the late Christopher Moore, I made a lovely (some number) course meal. Cioppino, baked potato with GOAT cheese, because if it weren't for him I would NEVER have tried such a thing, and now every potato is graced with it's presence. Wine (in the duff glass) and some of the "good shit". I hope he is smiling down on my effort...s because I cant cook for shit, but I know he'd be proud.

What happened to him is not fair, but I do think about him often and my memories are ALWAYS happy ones. You would not be who you are today without his support and encouragement. I probably wouldn't be who I am either. I wish we could have all learned more from him because I know he wasn't done giving. but this is still a BIRTHday and he can still be celebrated. 

 -Amanda

Dinner with Jon

I got vermicilli cause that's what I had the very first time. Also, I feel like he said something inappropriate about how good fish sauce is.
 -Jon

One Year Ago...

 A year ago we gathered together to celebrate my father's life. I wanted to share the letter that I prepared and the many memories that I had with my dad.

Dear Dad,

I remember July 13^th, I had just gotten my ganglion cyst, Jay Leno, removed from my wrist and I went to dinner at Pattie’s house with you and Jess so that we could meet Liz. We stopped at Safeway on the way to dinner because you were coughing so hard. You bought some Robtussin and drank it straight from the bottle. If only that was the end of your cough.

I remember that same night at dinner. You cut my food for me because my wrist was in a cast. That was the last time that I saw you before you went to the hospital. You will always be my father, cutting my food even at age 20.

I remember your laugh, hearty and full, a true belly laugh. I remember your smile and how it stretched from ear to ear. I miss your scratchy mustache and how when you were feeling especially adventurous you would grow at your whole beard.

I remember how when we were little you would make it a point to embarrass me in front of my friends. I was embarrassed, but they thought you were hysterical, and grew to love you.

You taught me so many important lessons. You helped me to see that there was life outside of hockey, and when there was no hockey I flourished because of you.

You introduced me to art, to music, and numerous amazing things in nature: camping in morro bay, the tide pools, the seals from davenport, kayaking in the Cupertino reservoir and half moon bay. I remember going into a restaurant with you in your kayaking suit and booties to match. You always made me laugh.

I remember your hysterically inappropriate comments and how we’d sit at a restaurant and try to figure out everyone’s story around us. Hypothesizing if the hairy guy in the corner was on a date, or if the woman was a relative. I remember you always speaking so loudly.

I remember Bear Valley and how I learned to appreciate opera, climbing granite rocks, and the long car rides in the van.

I remember Harry Potter, who moved my cheese and Just so stories, and how you would bring a new accent every night to storytime.

I remember how you crafted a car bed for me when I was younger. And how you let Jessica and I pick the color we wanted to paint our dressers.

I remember Costco and the samples. I remember your blue jeans and tennis shoes.

I remember when you wanted to buy roller skates and ended up buying two left feet. Your hockey career may have had a rocky start but you always supported mine.

I remember your warm sweaters. And how my freshman year you sent me a sweater with a hundred two dollar bills pinned inside. I remember paying with two dollar bills and thinking of you everytime that someone commented on how lucky I was to have so many two dollar bills. Really I was so lucky to have you as my Dad.

I remember twice as nice. Your love for the ocean and red wine. I will always remember our dinners. Your elaborate cooking and delicious food.

 I remember when I was little and you would make us English muffins with tomato and melted munester cheese, and how we would always have steak and cucumber salad. I am so grateful that you introduced me to so many amazing restaurants, pho, chavez market, and the Indian buffet on Lawrence.

I remember when you came and visited me in Ithaca and cooked for all of my friends. I remember our search through Ithaca for Tom Yum paste.

I remember how your face lit up when you told me about Pattie and how you proudly showed me the folded picture of you two that you had in your wallet. You gave me that photo and I put it on my bulletin board. I couldn’t have found someone more perfect for you.

I remember your death dad, but more importantly I remember your life. Dad you have guided me through so much and I know that you will always be with me.

I love you,

Amber

Victor E. Frankl said..

Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. The salvation of man is through love and in love. Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self, whether or not he is actually present. Whether or not he is still alive at all ceases somehow to be of importance.

As we come together today to celebrate my father’s life, we can all find comfort in knowing that we each carry many memories of his love.

I want to especially acknowledge Pattie, Bill, Jessica, Jon, Amanda, Steph and everyone else who has been there for me.

Thank you all for coming out tonight, my dad would have been so honored.