Genesis Vilella delivered a touching eulogy Tuesday at the funeral of her mother, New York Police Department Officer Miosotis Familia. Here is the text in full:
When I was younger, when I was a little kid, I was just so proud. I was just so excited that my mom was a cop. I would tell all my friends at school like my mom’s a police officer, like she’s so cool. And all my friends would be like, “Oh my God, that’s so amazing Your mom is a cop.” I was, and I still am, just so proud her and of the profession that she chose.
You know, my mom she always said education is paramount. She was the first one to go to college, the first one in her family to go to college, the first one to graduate with a degree and she used to tell me that she could never decide where, what field she wanted to be in, whether she wanted to work in education or in the medical fields and she did work in the medical field for a little bit.
She didn’t know whether or not she wanted to be a nutritionist or all of these other amazing things or amazing jobs, but she always said that she believed that being a police officer was her calling, being a detective was her calling and that this was the job for her.
And my mom wasn’t just a cop or just a police officer … or just a detective, although those titles are just as important, and they do play important roles in our society, because my mom, she is protector, defender, guidance counselor, spiritual adviser, philosopher, philanthropist, theorist and mother.
But I am so grateful. Words can’t even explain how I feel right now, but I am so happy that, I am so elated that, she is looking down upon us, that she is still taking care of us, that she is still awarding us with these opportunities because — my mom, she would go to the ends of the earth for my sister Delilah and my little brother Peter and for me.
I love her so much and lately it has been really weird to talk about her in the past tense because she’s still here, she’s not gone.
And I know that she can see the turnout of everybody from the NYPD, from the Canadian police department, from officers all around the world. I know that she can see this. It’s marvelous, it’s grandiose, the way she would want it to be.
And I am glad that my mom can have such an honorable send off like this one.
And those of you who have had the privilege to meet my mom personally, to laugh with her, to cry with her, to break bread with her, or even just a small conversation or even had the opportunity to receive a smile from her, I am glad that she touched your hearts and honestly, I am not even surprised she did.
And I am grateful for my family, my large family. But I am just as grateful to my even bigger family of blue that is here for me and my family that is here for me and for Delilah and for Peter.
And I am so thankful that they still stick by my side and they’ll stick by our side to make sure that my mother’s legacy is unforgettable because that’s what she is and that is what she’ll always be, unforgettable.
I know that she is watching, I can feel her. I can feel her presence. I can feel her touch, I can feel her love.
The other day she actually comforted me when I was in her bedroom and I felt her warmth, and I can find solace in the fact that, on the night of July 4, when I last saw her, before she left to go to work, she came into my doorway and she said, “I love you and I’m going to work now.” And she came and she gave me a hug, a really big, tight hug and I said ”Aw, I love you mom” and I pinched her cheeks because her cheeks were so cute, and then she went back into the doorway and he looked at me and I looked at her and I said, “Can I just have one more hug?” And she said, “Okay, of course, of course you can,” and she came and she hugged me again and I said “I love you so much mom, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
But I know, she went to work that night, when she sat in that truck, that she had me and my siblings in her heart, that she had love in her heart, and that she wasn’t upset and that she wasn’t afraid, or nervous, I know that she passed with love in her heart, with our love in her heart.
And yesterday I told my little brother Peter and my little sister Delilah, that yeah, before we could hug mom whenever we wanted to and that we could kiss her whenever we wanted to, but now, instead of her spirit and her soul being confined into one space, that now she’ll follow us wherever we’ll go.
Not even an ocean or a continent or anything would be able to keep her away from us.
And I just want to say, Mom, I miss your smile, I miss your big, beautiful brown eyes – they were always so clear and sparkling. I miss your beautiful soft brown skin that felt like velvet and I miss your beautiful black curly hair that looks like mine.
But I am glad you are still with me, with us.
I love you mom and thank you. Thank you for everything, for everything. I am eternally grateful … There aren’t enough words, or adverbs in the English language to express how much I am feeling for her. But the one simple phrase I can say that has enough power to convey what I am feeling is, I love you, I love you mom. Thank you.
Me and my siblings were the most important thing to my mom and still are the most important people to her, the most important, the top of her list and the center of her heart.
And I am so glad that I got to experience such an unconditional, pure love in my 20 years on this earth and my mother lived for us. These these little two cutie pies right here and for me. She loved us and she went to work everyday for us. And she took that to work knowing the consequences that it came with. Knowing that it was a little bit more dangerous for us, for me and for Delilah and for Peter and I am so privileged to be able to experience such a selfless love like that. Such a selfish, pure, unconditional love like that.
But that’s exactly what my mom was — selfless and loved us unconditionally. I love you mom. Thank you.
