Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!My mom was an interesting character. She worked as a bartender most of her life, which gave her the gift of profanity. She could cuss like a truck driver. I mean to say that if you closed your eyes while she was swearing at you, you would swear that some wheel jockey who just got off of Route 80 was in front of you.
She was also a very good artist, and loved to read my comic books. She always made sure that she was at our school plays, choir and band concerts, etc.
While not an imposing person in size, she filled the room with her presence.
Fearless and protective of her family, she wouldn't have hesitated for a moment if her children were threatened by man or beast.
Mom was also a believer in fairness and personal responsibility .
She died of a massive heart attack on the same morning that I was on a plane, on route to see her.
When I got to her house, I was greeted by my sister and her husband, plus one of Mom' friends, on the back deck.
That's when I got the news about what had happened earlier that morning.
I had spoken to her the night before, about the usual bs we would talk about, and that was it.
I said I'd see her the next day.
The world became a little less bright with her passing.
But every now and then I see a glimpse of Mom in my little girl, in the way that Gale holds her hands for an instant,( the way Mom used to do), as if she's about to play a piano that no one else can see.
