I had, like many of us (but, unfortunately, not all of us) a very good mother. She was smart, attentive, interested and encouraging in my interests, loving, a good teacher and present. By present, I mean she was a stay at home mom. My parents did not divorce. Dad was the bread winner, mom took care of the home and kids. He was a very loving husband, a good father and provider. Mom and I probably watched most every TV show during the 1970’s. It’s pretty rare I hear about a series or special or made for TV movie that we did not watch together during that time period. When dad had to travel for his job we would have a weekend all to ourselves, full of TV shows, playing cards and the special treat of TV dinners. Mom almost always cooked from scratch, so the TV dinners were our special treat when dad was gone. When she made homemade bread she would give me a pinch to make my little loaf of cinnamon and sugar dough to be baked along with the main bread. She was a voracious reader, passed on to me, a lover of history (same), read all of Shakespeare (I have to admit, no) and loved music (me too). She loved research and traveling (same here) and collecting antiques and learning about them and then selling when she was ready to move on to something else. Once I moved out we would have long conversations on the phone, get together to go to garage sales (usually on Fridays, when they were fresh) and have lunch at a park in between the garage sales and shopping at bookstores. So many good times and memories, we don’t really think they will end while we are living them. Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer caused by smoking her entire adult life. She braved out several treatments, over around two years, but we finally lost her July 31, 2001. Her mother, my beloved Grandma Y, died in September and was buried on the 10th. I went back to work the following morning, September 11, to more sad news.