Take On Life

Hi everyone,

Deb Minasi remembers the days when warm water and giggles spilled over the edge of the tub in her New Milford home on Dean Road.

After years of trying to start a family, Deb and her husband, Gene, suddenly split their hearts three ways in 3 1/2 years: Samantha came first, followed by Coley, and then, Kimberly.

“It was the best feeling in the world to give them baths and put their pajamas on,” Deb said Tuesday. “It was like you were entering a world filled with baby lotion.”

Last March, Deb unlocked that baby lotion world once again when Samantha, now 17, gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Natasha.

Of course, the bedroom where Samantha and her sisters grew up would never do.

Deb and Gene had planned to finish the basement for Samantha; her fiance, Mike Garrison; and baby Natasha.

They had already put up some wallboard and insulation. They had already run the heating.

In fact, the new grandparents were ready to wrap things up when Gene learned he had leukemia. Just like that, the world — and the basement project — came to a halt for the Minasi family.

As it turned out, terrible leg pain was the least of Gene’s concerns when he arrived at Danbury Hospital in 2009.

“The doctors could tell right away from the blood work that something wasn’t right,” Deb explained. “That’s how we found out it was leukemia.

“We were down (in the basement) worrying and worrying about how we were going to finish it,” she said. “And then, the phone rang.”

To find out who called, check out my “Take on Life” column Wednesday.

Only in the print edition of The News-Times.