Happy Birthday, Mom. You were the best.

Today, October 2, you would have been 96 years old. We would have talked about how close you were getting to being one century old and we would have eaten cake and had balloons and laughed and I would have told you how much I loved you. You would have smiled and kissed me as I bent to kiss you and give you a hug and feel yours in return.

Instead of getting close to a century-old you left before reaching a half-century. 49 just wasn’t old enough especially since I only knew you 22 of those years. When I last saw you I didn’t recognize you because you looked so old and frail in that hospital bed. We didn’t know that I would be the last one to see you alive. I would have stayed longer if I just would have known. And I know you would have stayed longer if you could have.

I’ll never forget that last summer when I was home and wishing I wasn’t, wishing I was still with my friends from college where I had just graduated but instead I was home with you and Dad. I felt so alone and that one night I cried in the upstairs bedroom. You came upstairs and sat on the edge of the bed and just held me like I was your little boy...which I was again that night and I suppose always was and still am. I enjoyed being close to you as you held me without talking until I suppose I felt I was too old for such a thing and pulled back slowly. I will truly never forget that night when you were well and hadn’t gone to the hospital from which you didn’t return.

I miss you, Mommy. You were the best. You are the best.   

I love you.

Your youngest son,

Richard