You are always nervous to meet your partner’s parents for the first time, but when Jenifer took me to Calgary in 2016 whatever anxiety I felt was quickly melted away by the warmth, love and mischievous humour of Tony and Lina Papararo. Unselfconsciously and unreservedly they accepted me into their home and into their lives.
I truly loved spending time with Lina. I liked her easy going nature, her playful sense of humour and the stories she told me about her life in Canada, England and Italy. Lina was a natural conversationalist. It was easy to sit and talk about anything or nothing. And of course I loved her cooking -- her rapini, her manicotti, her pasta sauce, her eggplant parmesan, her gnocchi. Everything was so good. Lina taught me what real Italian cooking was and I looked forward to it whenever we visited.
Over the last several difficult years, Jenifer and I made a routine of calling Lina every evening. I looked forward to hearing her voice. I tried to try to make her laugh at least once on each call, which wasn’t hard. Even now, when I look at the clock at that time in the evening I catch myself thinking ‘It’s time to call Lina.’ And there’s a part of me that’s tempted to call her number just in case somehow I could talk to Lina one more time.
My sincerest condolences to Jenifer, Ivana and Gerry, and to the extended family.
