Michael's Eulogy - written and spoken by Alicia Pishnick at Michael's funeral at All Saints Catholic church on April 23, 2012.

I want to start by thanking all of you for the kindness, generosity and love you have shown my family. I would like to thank you here individually, but – look around you: we’d be here all night. But I want you to know, WE NEED you to know that nothing you have done for us has gone unnoticed. ​

When Mike was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes at 6 years old, it really shook our world back in ’93. I remember asking God, “Why would you do that to this precious little boy?” I thought it was monumentally cruel, and it took me a long time to figure out that Michael was chosen because he could handle it. He was the strongest out of all of us to be able to deal with that at such a young age. Because God doesn’t throw anything at you that He doesn’t think you can handle. And by that logic, God must believe that we all will make it through this gargantuan loss. ​ ​

Whenever I catch myself thinking about the things Mike is going to miss out on, I quickly shake the thought out of my head and force myself to remember one of the hundreds of funny memories I have of him – because laughing is what Mike and I did best together. Here are a few I am willing to share:

• When dad first learned how to text, he was a little “trigger happy”. On a dreary, rainy day he texted me, Meg and Mike: “Bad day…unless you’re a duck.” And Michael wrote back: “I think you’re abusing your right to text.”
• His old man impression. And his frustrated cat impression.
• The first time Jeremy came to Texas to meet my entire family, Meg, Mike & I decided to take him, Cameron and our cousins the ‘Bama Boys ice-skating. Now, I love my husband dearly, but the darling man cannot skate. So while he is holding my hand, has his other on the railing as we STEP around the rink, Michael comes gliding by…. leisurely…backwards…. (He was such a great skater, like ANNOYINGLY good) and he says to Jeremy, “The kiddie rink is around here somewhere.” I giggled an expletive at him that I cannot repeat here.
• The first time my family met Jeremy’s family at the Fishman house in Jersey for dinner, Michael blazed through his plate, stood up for seconds and said to my now in-laws, “You said it was buffet style, right?”
• Mike and I had an amazing way of falling back into our routines with each other after we had been separated for a few months. This one time I was back from school and we brought in pizza. Picture this: Michael is sitting at the head of the table, someone is sitting between us, and then there’s me at the other end. Not a word was spoken during the following sequence: Mike eats as much of his pizza as he wants, takes the crust and flings it over to my plate, which of course lands perfectly. I pick it up, and eat it.

As utterly shattered as I am right now, I can honestly say that there is no unfinished business between us. Michael knew that I loved him. About two months ago I wrote him a letter. The gist of it was me trying to give him life advice in a humorous way. But as soon as I dropped it in the mailbox I got this sick feeling of worry that he was going to be upset with me for being so preachy. He texted me saying he got it and thanked me. I wrote back, “Sorry for being a cliché over-protective big sister.” And he wrote back, “No, it just means you care.”

I know each of you has your own favorite Michael story and memory. We have to remember that Michael knew he was loved. ​Because of what I know about the all of you here, I don’t have to make this request but I’m going to anyway: When someone loses their parents they are called an orphan. When someone loses their spouse they are called a widow. But there is no word for someone who loses a sibling. There is no word for someone who loses a child.  

Please, God, please friends and family watch over Meagan, Roxann and Mike. And please give us all the strength to remember the sage words Michael Carl believed in: "The worst that could happen is the best that could happen."

-Alicia Pishnick, Michael Carl's adoring sister.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers..... 
We will celebrate Michael's life at 
2:00 P.M. on Monday April 23, 2012 
with a Mass at All Saints Catholic Church
Meadowcreek and Arapaho in Dallas


Then join us at Sherlock's Baker Street Pub in Addison on Belt Line Rd. 


In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the American Diabetes Association by clicking on Michael's picture above.

Thank you for visiting Michael Carl's memorial website.

Please click on Michael's Picture to Donate in his honor to the ADA.

Michael’s family wants to extend a special “thank you” to everyone for the outpouring of support given to our family these past days.  Our Family and Friends mean a great deal to us, and we are blessed by your presence.  We want to give special thanks to Sandy Peters, Jane Alberico, Shelly Newman, Susanne Odea, Michael Henderson, Chuck Meadows and Father Tom Cloherty who came to our aid last Wednesday.  And to Janeen and Randy Galloway along with all the Volunteers and Staff of the American Diabetes Association who helped with the “Stars of Texas” event last Thursday.  Our heartfelt thanks to all of Michael’s friends who spent Friday evening with us telling “Michael’s Stories.”  We love you all and hope that you continue to be a part of our extended family.

In lieu of flowers,

Please donate to the American Diabetes Association in honor of Michael either by mail at 4100 Alpha Road, Suite 100, Dallas, Texas 75224, or via the following link: https://donations.diabetes.org/site/Donation2?idb=1894652192&9940.donation=form1&df_id=9940&FR_ID=8100&PROXY_ID=7668529&PROXY_TYPE=20