A Toast to Shenny

They say that “Girls rule the World.” I beg to differ. Actually Miriam rules the world and delegates the details to everyone else. Or at least that’s how it seems to me. A double doctor — PHD and MD — head of a non-profit that works on women’s health issues, economic empowerment, and midwivery, mother of three remarkable young men, wife to an incredibly dedicated doctor in his own right, and a dear friend who has helped me with my soul food kitchen every step of the way. And that only captures a small portion of this whirling dervish.

You know that feeling you have when you go off to college and suddenly realize how much more efficient you are with your time than you were in high school? And then when you go off to your first job, you have that same sense of new-found efficiency. Which then goes to a higher level when you get married and have kids? Each new iteration brings with it a sense of wonderment, excitement, possibility. That is the essence of Miriam. She imbues everyone around her with a sense of what is possible, well beyond what you have experienced to date.

Miriam, it is my birthday wish to you that you carve out some you time to make pizza in the brick oven you built yourself, to taste the remarkable grilled ribs you marinate in your homemade adobo sauce,to finally make that trip you’ve always wanted to take to central Italy, to bask in the love you so generously and unselfishly give to others.

Salud dear friend