CAROL FLYZIK: A Patient
Stepmother
"She
sold, like, computer software to hospitals and medical
companies or something," said Kristin Walsh, unsure
exactly what her stepmother did.
That is how their relationship had once been, cordial
but constrained. Ms. Walsh's mother, Nancy, brought Carol
Flyzik home 13 years ago and introduced her as her
girlfriend to Kristin and her two brothers. Ms. Flyzik,
40, was a passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 11.
She was on her way to the West Coast on a business
trip.
"It's hard when your parents bring a new person home,"
Ms. Walsh said. "The fact that she was a woman made it a
little harder, but I guess I felt the same way when my
dad married another woman."
The family of five lived in Plaistow, N.H., and Ms.
Flyzik proved to be a patient woman. She listened to the
children. She made the holidays warmer. Through the years
their relationship changed from "Stay out of my life" to
"I love you."
Last year was the first time that Ms. Walsh bought Ms.
Flyzik a Christmas present of her own: two tickets to a
Celtics game. "We had so much fun," she recalled. "It was
quality time that we never had together before."
She considered the empty chair, where her stepmom used
to sit and watch television. "I guess you don't know what
you have until it's gone."
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