Today would be my mother’s 71st birthday.

She died of metastasized breast cancer on the night before Thanksgiving almost 2 years ago. Her first bout with breast cancer was in the late 80s when she was treated and “cured” at that time. She and I participated together in the Breast Cancer Fund’s Peak Hike 2000 at Mt Crested Butte. When she went to an ER for back pain in 2007, twenty years later, metastasized BRCA was found throughout her liver and bones and she was given 2 months to live.

A friend referred her to a wonderful doctor in Orlando who gave her radiation, chemo and hope. She lived another four years surviving some really bad days but enjoying a lot of good days too. She got to spend a lot of time with us in Seattle and attend my graduation, and also to enjoy the beautiful weather and all her friends in Orlando. She was with us when we adopted Rob and she taught him almost all of his tricks.

I know she would have loved to meet Gracie, and to help me pick cabinets, paint and flooring for the kitchen. She would have loved to attend Rebecca’s beautiful wedding and to have held Gus when he was new. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t have something to tell her; I suppose that is what most of my blog posts are. I wanted to scan the old picture albums but I can’t drag out another project until I have my kitchen table back so here are the few pix I have on my hard drive:

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I miss you, Mommy

While looking up whether “commas of address” were used anymore, and yes, they are, I discovered Leonore Dvorkin, who has written on both commas and on breast cancer. Enjoy,

http://www.dvorkin.com/essays/anglophonia/a15.htm

http://www.leonoredvorkin.com/brcan/

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