Memorial

I have a Blog I’ve been building for a handful of years.  It documents random events, emails, visits, pictures, conversations with Mom.  Not just with me, but anyone that I occasionally found time to add to it.  The week before Yom Kippur I was adding an entry to it.  At the end, I went to type “I Love You Mom”.  But I mistyped, and it came out “I Live You Mom”.    

I corrected it, but then thought about what an interesting slip of the fingers that was. 
I live you mom.

Our mother imparted to us, the facets of her own life and her own personality.  I like unusual people.  It’s not my fault.  She loved learning about people.  Strangers as well as friends.  And she had the most interesting of friends.  From such creative walks of life.  

She lost her husband, Simon, at much too young an age.  I was so young that I don’t remember him.  But her trauma became my trauma.  And her stories of how good a person he was became my model for how to be a good person.  And a model of Tikun Olam that lives strongly I think, in each of us.

She loved classical music.  But what 6 year old wants to go to the opera?  Or listen to it on the drive home from temple on Friday nights? But which of us does not enjoy opera and classical music today?

But perhaps most of all, she was eternally curious.  It didn’t matter if she didn’t fully understand the explanations she got back.  Or even if she was able to remember them.  It was the unknown that intrigued her, and the challenge of learning something new that kept her going. 

Last week Wednesday evening, I was visiting with Julie.  I returned at almost 10pm.  Mom was still up. She had paused her show, Jeopardy. She was playing Words-With-Friends while waiting for me.  She wanted to watch the show together.  I was very touched and overjoyed. I so loved watching Jeopardy with her, and she didn’t always wait for me during my visits. 

We watched, and both struggled to get the answers.  It was a difficult board for us both, that night.  In Final-Jeopardy, she got the answer correct.  She was so pleased with herself.   And I was so proud of her.  I feel that eternal curiosity from her.  I drive my wife crazy with it sometimes.  But I hope to live up to my mother’s model as I grow older.  It was so sustaining for her. 

Our mother gave us each pieces of herself.  They’ve become pieces of us.  They’ve become pieces of me.

I Love You Mom.

I Live You Mom.