Karen Guinane - Mike’s loving wife - shared some words of remembrance at Mike’s Celebration of Life, recorded below.

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Thank you to everyone that came here tonight to celebrate Mike. He wanted a party and I think we gave it to him. I could stand up here and tell you stories all night about how Mike made me laugh, how he always helped me but never wanted my help, how he was a great dad, coach and friend, but instead I will tell you just a few funny things the obituary did not tell you

 Mike broke a toe growing up and it never grew after that point. He had 4 toeprints in the sand and would often joke about it. He would show it proudly (especially to Renee as she hates feet).

Mike made a kick-ass egg white sandwich. He added just the right amount of salt and pepper. He also made a kick-ass 120 calorie English muffin with peanut butter. He used exactly the right amount of peanut butter and they had the perfect amount of meltiness.  I guess all things tasted better when he made them. 

He had such an incredible imagination and loved playing, probably more than the girls did.  The girls would ask me to do barbies and I would be like, “I have no imagination, ask Dad.” He'd play for hours making up stories that were hysterical and adding in some inappropriate jokes that they wouldn't get but I'd be laughing hearing it all in the background. 

He would tell me weird facts that were not true and would laugh hysterically when I would tell them to other people. I would sometimes call his bluff and say, “That is not true.” Then, he'd say, “Look it up.” I would, and sometimes they would indeed be true and he would love saying, “See...don't doubt me.”

He considered it a challenge to make things last: his truck, shirts, underwear, shoes, and his truck inspection, which I have to ask Greg McNamara about… I think his record was like 1.5 years. I really have a lot of examples of this. My friend Maggie once told me to have Mike wear something different when he coached 3rd base because in all of her pictures through years of softball, he had on the same shirt.  I noticed this as well when we were doing all the picture boards. He had a few favorites for sure. He had Crocs with a hole in the bottom that he still kept on the shoe rack in the garage. He only stopped wearing them because he burned his foot on the sand in Ocean City. He would keep his underwear until they were literally hanging on by a string. More than once he would reach down and rip them off in style to make me laugh. Sorry, one final story about his underwear… He was picking on me (which everyone here knew he always did) when we were playing cards with friends at an archery tournament. I reached over to give him a wedgie and they ripped right off his body. We laughed until we cried that night. It is such a great memory.  

I have - we all have - so many great memories of Mike.  

I want to leave you tonight with maybe a little nudge/something to take away from this celebration of Mike's life…

I have loved Mike for 37 years. We worked hard and built this beautiful life together. We had big plans and saved for "retirement". We had places to go, people to see, and more dreams to make come true. But, there simply wasn't enough time. 

Mike will be proud of me here for actually using a movie quote as I forget movies as soon as I watch them and he remembered and could recite many (examples: Christmas Vacation, Joe Dirt, Caddyshack, every Seinfeld episode): "Get busy living or get busy dying,” from Shawshank. Of course I didn't remember the rest of it so I had to look it up… the quote continues, "It's your choice to finally break out and take those chances that you've always dreamed about. Remember you can never get more time. Use this time you have right now to take control of your life."  Mike really would want everyone to do that.

So, I'll finally end it here with a few more quotes from two of his favorite movies and his favorite show:

• “Life's a garden, dig it.” - Joe Dirt

• “Hallelujah! Holy shit, where's the Tylenol?” - Clark W Griswold, Christmas Vacation (because I really need Tylenol right now)

And finally... to Tim Weidow for the impersonation… something Mike said a lot: 

• "Giddy up." - Kramer, Seinfeld

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