Ann, Chris and my parents have been good friends since 1971 when they met as neighbors in the Mill Street Apartment in Athens, Ohio, just before Alan and I were born. Since then I felt Ann and Chris as my American parents, Alan, Michael, and Trevor as my brothers. (Ann is actually one of the few people who witnessed closely how I started speaking words, how I started walking.) After sharing several years in Athens with the de Brauw's, my family returned to Sendai, but we visited each other overseas several times, and maintained our friendships. Especially when I was doing my graduate study at OSU, the de Brauw's welcomed me as their member and the de Brauw's was the place I could go "home." Whenever I went "home", I always liked the moment of walking into from their dining/kitchen, the "base" where Ann always welcomed me with delicious dishes full of ingredients, spices, creativity and love. It seemed to me that Ann never cooked the same dish again, but always tried something new, and always came up with amazingly delicious dishes. I would like to share one episode out of thousands. When my girlfriend Kaori, now she is my wife and the mother of our daughter Karin who just turned 1-year-old on the day of the earthquake/tsunami, visited me in the US in the winter of 1999, we visited the de Brauw's together. The heaviest snow in 10 years hit Chicago area during our stay and the airport was totally blocked out cancelling all the flights including Kaori's back to Japan. I had to go back to Columbus and had to leave Kaori in the de Brauw's for a few days until she could take her flight. Kaori did not speak English very well that time and was a bit nervous. Ann suggested Kaori to cook something together, and they communicated through cooking and ended up with a delicious chocolate cake. Ann was very communicative and knew how to encourage people. I have so many unforgettable episodes with Ann, and I truly miss Ann. I am very sad, but it is our gift that Kaori could share time with Ann that becomes very important part of her life. I am in Sendai now suffering from the 3.11 earthquake/tsunami with my family, friends and colleagues. I was just talking with my family that we would visit Ann as soon as the situation allows ... I wanted Ann to wait until we can go "home" to hug her at least once more. Considering the issue of nuclear power plant and the aftershocks, the situation is still unstable and we still have a long way to get recovered, but I am sure that Ann will encourage us, as she usually did. I would like to thank Ann of being my American mom, and I truly miss her. Tohru, Ann's Japanese son.