Friday was my mom’s birthday but I neglected to post. My reason may have been strangely appropriate—I was having a tooth extract and the preparation for a new implant done. Appropriate because by the time she was far younger than I am now my mom had had all of her teeth extracted. The experience was probably one of the most excruciatingly painful of my life and that includes nearly losing my arm in an auto accident. For the last two days I’ve been pretty out of it. Now for good or ill I’m pretty much back to normal.
We’re not sure which birthday this birthday of my mom’s was since, as I’ve mentioned before, my mom had three birth certificates: one for 1921, one for 1922, and one for 1923. We don’t know which if any was correct.
I continue to miss my mom. She was one of my best friends, the only friend other than my wife on whom I could rely without reservation. She was a woman of extraordinary courage, wisdom, and prudence. She began life with nothing other than the love of her parents whose love did not extend to providing stability of security for. With that background she was determined to provide that security and stability for her own children and with my father, a man who also longed for the stability and security he had never had as a child, she succeeded in creating a loving, stable, and secure home for her children.
An inspiration for those of us getting older and wondering what purpose our own lives served.
A generational step up the ladder for our children’s future.