Melissa Kaylene

Why I created this Gin Martini:

In 2018 I spent quite a bit of time with my Aunt. We had somewhat of a unique relationship. She was my Aunt by marriage. She was a feisty Italian American, who taught me more than a thing or two about standing up for myself.

It was her and my Uncle that took me in for a year as a highly naive 15-year-old teenager while my parents were going through hard times. I think it was her goal that year to teach me ways to the world, and also to share her love of all of her favorite classic 80s and early 90s movies with my sister and me.

She taught me a lot of things that year that I lived with her. After though our lives sort of went separate ways. I quickly grew up and had a family of my own, and she and my uncle spent years on the road when he decided to change careers and become a journeyman lineman.

A couple of years ago though, while I was having difficulties caring for my sister who she herself was suffering through a loss and addiction issues, my Aunt and I reconnected more than ever.

They had been living in Prosser, Washington at the time, and I coincidentally was included in a press trip there so I stayed a couple of extra days with them afterward and rebonded.

Then, perhaps a year after that my Uncle took a job close to where I lived and they relocated. I suddenly found myself just 10 miles away from them. I made it a point to spend more time with my Aunt again.

While she was young, barely 50, her health was declining. She had multiple sclerosis, and I know the lesions in her brain had been increasing.