Kelly Nordahl, our beautiful and amazing wife and mother, passed away due to a long battle with Leiomyosarcoma surrounded by family Wednesday evening, November 11th. Many of you may not even know she had cancer as Kelly was determined to not let it define her. And it did not for four years.

In lieu of flowers, we are asking anyone who can to donate to Memorial Sloan Kettering where donations will help my mother’s Oncologist Dr. Martee Hensley with researching treatment for Sarcoma cancers.

 Below is the beautiful eulogy we shared at her memorial. We think it perfectly encapsulates how we all feel about Kelly.

There’s a saying that goes “a happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short”. I think that is how we all feel right now about Kelly, but it’s especially true for my dad, my sister, and me.

There was never going to be enough time, there was always going to be more to say, more to do, but when someone passes away in their fifties, that sentiment is particularly accurate.

We have found some comfort in the depth of the life she lived through, if not the length of it.

She checked every box.

Kelly was smart and good. Unbelievably kind and honest. She was gorgeous. Stop you in your tracks beautiful. She was talented, she had excellent taste. The woman could really dance.

She knew how to make everything more special. She had amazing friends and family. She traveled far and wide, wining and dining and exploring. She rode horses, she skied mountains, she swam in many seas. She built houses and she changed careers.

She married her best friend, who she laughed with and at until the end. She had extremely close relationships with us, her daughters. Danie, her smartypants who she encouraged to question everything, and then there’s Amber, her superstar, who God seemed to have just copied and pasted.

Yes, she was a successful businesswoman, but her greatest pride, her greatest joy, was her family and her home. She made our lives a fairytale, our house a safe haven.

She believed in us, accepted us, and pushed us. Anything we came to her with we were given comfort and guidance. We couldn’t have possibly asked for more.

So in the end, we know she lived a life most could only ever dream of. We know she was blessed from every angle. But it will never feel fair.

Through her battle with cancer though, she showed us true strength and resilience. She made us capable of dealing with the impossible and for that, we cannot thank her enough.