I love my wife. I married "up." I don't deserve her but I spend all my time trying to make it up tp the bottom rung of the ladder.
I love/d my beloved kitties -- Neysa (d/18yo) and Musica (d/25/yo) -- more on another post.
My Mom was the finest woman to ever draw breath. She SINGLE-HANDEDLY raised 7 kids alone. Yeah, Dad was around and tossed in a few shekels but he didn't really contribute. Picture this my friends: A woman, divorced with 7 kids -- many "gifted" (=pain in the ass) who works all day to keep the house running, then goes to college in the evening and gets an AA and a great accounting job and ends up writing accounting procedure manuals for ADP - corporate!
And I was the worst. I probably took 10 or 20 years off of her life.
She was so shamed to take welfare, but did it for our sakes. She dedicated every waking moment to getting off it. She taught all of us the meaning of self-respect and self-reliance. She died in her early 60s from just too much life and too few breaks. She taught all of us the wonderment of reading and the importance of grammar and the proper use of the English Language.
She worked so hard, for so long. She achieved her goal of getting us off of welfare. 20 hours a day for 15 years -- how hard could that have been, right?
I remember her crying alone when things were bad -- money short, maybe the house at risk. But she always shielded us from the day to day problems: something todays parents DON'T do.
What an idiot I was not to see her, talk to her, call her more often. She wasn't that far away.
When I was young -- 13-15 yo, we used to talk all night. It would be 3:00 AM when she would send me, finally to bed. She was so smart, and intelligent! We would debate Heinlein, Jose Farmer, Chaucer, John D MacDonald, Asimov, Solzenitzen, Shakespeare, Chekov (the writer and sometimes the navigator), did I mention John D MacDonald? Oh those nightly discussions about Travis McGee (and his friend Mayer) , Lazarus Long, even the Stainless Steel Rat (to which we would laugh and laugh).
You want love? My Mom was the definition of love: self sacrifice (to a painful level), patience, clear and solid values, patience. Did I mention patience?
She died from sheer exhaustion. 7 kids -- +2 who died ( 1 SIDS, 1 pneumonia)
I miss her so. And am daily humbled by her example.
My friends, to have such a wonderful mother who walked the walk. Who worked so hard that it killed her so young.
And she was SO beloved in the community! The entire neighborhood had the word out -- even after it became the barrio: "Nobody messes with Moms" (which was how she was known).
If I am ever an asshole, please remind me of the legacy I carry.
Yes my friends, I have known Love. Twice (+6 for my brothers and sisters).
