Alexander Family: Not every family has one like her. An indomitable spirit … With a laugh that gently wraps itself around you and embraces you … A love that settles in for the long run and touches and remains across every generation.

Not every family has one like her. Someone who has faced difficulties with an amazing grace and forgiveness. Maybe, not easily, but with a strength that lets the past be what it was, to leave it as is, imperfect and messy and not what she wished it had been.

Not every family has one like her. Someone who doesn’t let anger consume her or cast doubt on what she believes is right and just. It’s remarkable that the core of who she is doesn’t change.

Not every family has one like her, my sweet cousins. Although you belong to her and she belongs to you — not every family has someone who can be claimed by each and every one of us. She has been and is — so, so good to all of us.