From JuJu with Love

My mom’s world revolved around her children and her grandchildren.

We were her everything.

But what made her extraordinary… was that her heart never stopped there.

She was on the board of Temple Israel, and she went often—either for board meetings or to lead her support group for physically challenged people.

At some point, she met a West Bloomfield police officer in the parking lot. He had seen her coming and going and noticed her handicap van.

She drove it herself using hand controls. She would push a button, the ramp would come out, and she could get on and lower it independently. Then she’d press another button to close everything up before heading inside.

She later said she thought he was running over to help her.

He said, “Oh no… I just wanted to check out your van.”

He told her he had a daughter with physical disabilities who was getting too big for him to lift in and out of their car.

My mom befriended him, his wife, and their daughter. They became part of our family—joining us for holidays and birthdays and everyday occasions.

And when my mom went to replace one of her handicap vans, she didn’t trade it in.

She gave it to them.

She gave them the blue van from her Florida home first… and later, another one when she replaced it again.

And that was just who she was—

little notes, encouragement, generosity when no one was asking.

I still keep in touch with the police officer’s wife.

Unfortunately, their daughter passed away a few years ago. She was 27.

I like to think of Alex and my mom… laughing and giggling in heaven together, looking down and smiling on all of us.

That was my mom.

She loved her family fiercely… and somehow still found room to change someone else’s life too.

We were lucky enough to be raised by that kind of heart.

From Juju with love 💙