Boomer Journey…

I speak from experience when I reflect upon the years I was bullied in school. I was a dorky awkward kid with glasses just short of being equipped with a pocket protector. Much of it can be attributed to the way my mother dressed me. She hadn’t a clue how to dress me.

In retrospect, it all seems superficial. At the time, it was horrible. 

Is this your story?

It is the story of a lot of kids through the ages. The world has changed significantly since we were all growing up in the fifties and sixties. When we were growing up, the only solution for a persistent bully was a bloody lip – a Ralphie moment (A Christmas Story) where you become psychotic from the emotional wear and tear and beat the living crap out of them.

We’ve become ridiculous when it comes to bullies to where we perceive we have to post “Bully Free Zone” signs all over schools to discourage bullying. This is some of that pop psychology rhetoric and what they’re doing in California. However, it does not stop bullying. Signs and even consequences on an official level won’t stop it. You can send bullies to the principal’s office – however, they will be waiting for your child on the street corner. 

They were always waiting for me. 

The best advice I can offer parents today is to teach your child self confidence and how to fight back. Instill confidence in them and show them what to do with a bully even at the risk of getting beaten up. To stand up to a bully will instill self confidence. It is important to never put their lives in danger – yet at the same time teach them to stand up for themselves. 

Of course, the best fight to get into is the one you avoid. It is important to never go looking for a fight. I learned that one the hard way. Teach your children how to defend themselves. I believe it is healthy to enroll your child in a self-defense class – Martial Arts, Boxing, Kick Boxing, or simple self-defense strategies designed to keep them safe. These forms of self defense are about self discipline, confidence, and survival. Kids also need to know how to escape to safety when things become dangerous. 

I am not qualified to give parental advice. However, as a parent of a 15-year-old (I am 67), I speak from experience. The greatest favor you can do your children is to instill self-confidence without allowing it to go to their heads. Let them bask in their own self-worth to where bullies don’t stand a chance and your kid will excel.  

Keep in mind bullying isn’t always physical, but largely mental. There’s social media where young people take an emotional beating. Teen suicides tend to be the result of social media bullying. 

I’ve found the teen years are a vulnerable age for young people. It has been a long time ago, but I’ve never forgotten my adolescence. It is an emotionally unstable time for a kid. You’re not a child anymore and you’re not an adult yet. As hormones change, emotional instability flares out of control. Anger. Rage. Depression. It is a time of change and emotional unrest. 

At 67, I am finding our sixth decade is a time of change emotionally just like our teen years were a lifetime ago. If you find yourself emotional and on the edge of tears at this time in your life, take heart because you’re in good company. We’re all going through it. When you are feeling so very much alone, it is a good time to be in the company of others and cultivate a good support system.

  

   

  

The Empty Chair… 

Most of us have seen it throughout our lives. You could say the empty chair is symbolic. It means different things to different people. For some, it is just a place to sit. For others – it may seem unattractive – utilitarian. After all – it’s just a chair.

Or is it? 

For me – sitting in a quiet doctor’s office waiting room staring at an empty chair is symbolic of loss.

We’re all feeling loss to different degrees these days. We’re feeling the empty chair because it is symbolic of those who were once in our lives who are gone now. Some I think of daily. Others come to mind from time to time.  

How about you?

Who are you missing the most this morning?

When we were so very young, losing those near and dear to us seemed way off in the future. Our parents. Our friends. Unthinkable to think of them not being here. One day, you wake up and you are 67. Not only are a lot of friends and family gone – so is a lifetime. 

Time lost…

However, as this chapter in your life unfolds, consider this. You’re still very much alive. Alive to feel, think, experience, and love others. There are those who cannot say that anymore.

Fill your days with gratitude…grateful to still be living. 

When you’re feeling like all has been lost, know all will be well no matter what.

When we were coming of age in the 1950s and ’60s, we were judged by what we drove. You either had a really cool ride or you had the old family sedan that had been a second car, which was an excellent way to spend life alone. No one wanted to be seen in an old Chevy wagon or a Ford Custom. 

These were not first cars that impressed anyone back in the day.   

We all remember the songs of the era – Little GTO, Mustang Sally, Little Deuce Coupe, Fun-Fun-Fun, 409, Rocket 88, Drive My Car, Little Old Lady from Pasadena, Drag City, Little Cobra, Hot Rod Lincoln, and a host of others. These songs inspired us to go cruising. There was nothing quite like “profiling” in front of store windows – watching yourself go by.  

We were revving up our engines and sounding real mean, beholding the roar of an all-American V-8. That’s what we wanted and that was what we were going to have.  

It was a terrific time to be alive. As a nation and a society, we were on the rise and headed for the Moon. A newly elected President Kennedy spoke of the future with great passion and we were ready to embrace it. If you were in high school or on the way to college, the future was yours to hold.  

We dreamed of owning a Mustang, GTO, Camaro, Barracuda, Chevelle SS, or Roadrunner. In truth, what we got was a VW Beetle, Fiat 600, or a Renault Dauphine. Even if we could afford a sporty car, the parents wanted us in something sizable and safe – an urban battle wagon. 

Visionaries in the car business like Lee Iacocca of Ford and John DeLorean and Jim Wangers of Pontiac went after it with conviction because they themselves loved automobiles. They were both marketing types and automotive engineers. What they envisioned brought car buyers into the showrooms. They understood how to put the keys in buyers’ hands. 

Wangers and Delorean slipped GTO in under the radar as a LeMans model to get it quietly past GM brass. GTO was a smashing success for 1964. It became a standalone model for ’65. Everybody wanted one and The Beach Boys were there to help sell it. 

Lee Iacocca stepped in as Ford Division General Manager and Vice President when Robert McNamara left the company to join the Kennedy Administration, which opened the door for Iacocca to pursue hot cars and the Total Performance program. Ford’s stodgy image handed off to a legacy of high-performance Galaxies and Falcons followed by the white-hot new Mustang in 1964. Mustang’s introduction what the hottest thing since the Model T. 

For a whole lot of us, the VW Beetle, known officially as the Type 1, became our first car despite visions of a hot sporty car. It was what our parents could afford and it would get us to college or a trade school. In fact, the Beetle became a cult ride for the masses embraced by millions everywhere. Nothing could surpass its great success. 

Ford came after the VW Bug in 1969 with the affordable 1970 Maverick for just $1,995.00 – less than the VW’s base sticker price. The result was more than half a million Mavericks sold that first model year, launched on the Mustang’s fifth anniversary. Iacocca’s marketing genius was to follow baby boomer trends and it worked. It kept Ford in the black for years to come. Boomers bought compacts and subcompacts, then, moved on to the minivan in the 1980s. 

The rest is history. 

It seems we’re the last generation to truly embrace personal transportation though motorists still want their own space for the commute to work and school. Public transportation is for the birds. Whatever the vision 60 years later, we can sleep well knowing we came of age at an incredible time in American history. If you’re lucky, you still have that first car in the garage.   

 

Confound it young people today… 

You know it is true. 

Today’s Generation Gap….not exactly like the generation gap of the 1960s and ’70s…but no less a gap. Our parents didn’t understand us and we didn’t understand them.

Boomers may not agree with this statement – but we are annoying to young people. Yeah – an annoyance just like our parents were to us. They don’t understand us – and we do not understand them. We do things differently than Millennials and GEN Zers and they do things differently than us. Yet – how were we any different 50 years ago than what they are today? 

When I watch video footage from the Hippy era, Woodstock, Berkley, the war protests, the freaks, free love, and the evening news with Walter Cronkite, I am reminded there’s little difference between us and the Millennials we are so critical of. 

When we were young, we didn’t have what our parents had and that was experience. We had not yet been around the block and had little respect for their wisdom. Our parents, teachers, and mentors knew what we didn’t know because they’d been there. Even with the best rearing and proper example, we had to go out there and try life on for size. We tried things our parents would never approve of. We stumbled in hopes of learning something from our judgment. Others of us have struggled all of our lives in the game of education and survival. 

I’ve found we can bemoan our “luck” or instead examining what we’ve learned from experience. It is never too late to turn the ship around and chart a better path. This is what young people are up against today. Like youthful boomers a lifetime ago, they have to go out in the world and find their own way. When we were young, we were self-absorbed – which was our survival instinct at work. Children are, by nature, self-absorbed to survive – self-preservation.

Empathy and love tend to be learned behavior. Some of us learn both while others are born with it. When we are born with empathy and love in our souls, we automatically reach out to help others without even thinking about it. What happens to others affects us so deeply. Others, who’ve never learned empathy and love, ask “What’s in it for me?”

What I know from life experience is you cannot fake these elements. They are either learned or born into us from conception. For the young, self-absorption is an integral part of growing. In time, we learn the importance of giving or spend our lives doing a lot of taking. I’ve found I get greater reward from serving others even when it becomes a thankless task.

When I look at today’s youth and the youth we were what seems like yesterday, I find there’s little difference in the generations. Like us, they will spend a lifetime learning from their experiences and – hopefully – make the world a better place.   

         

Who could ever forget the game shows we watched growing up. The one I remember most was “PASSWORD” which kept us glued to the TV screen on weekday afternoons, especially during school vacation or when we were home sick. The password would be funny and my sister and I would say it over and over again making each other laugh. Whenever the announcer would say, “the password is…” we always wondered if the contestants could hear him. 

In fact, who was that guy anyway? 

It can be safely said Mark Goodson and Bill Todman pioneered some of the most successful American game shows. Goodson hooked up with Todman long about 1941 in New York City forming a business partnership that would last for decades and find its way to Hollywood. Todman was a radio writer, director, and advertising copywriter, which made their relationship a natural fit. Goodson and Todman shared a love for games and decided to form a successful franchise they could weave into radio and television.

These guys did not get off to an easy start. They first had to first sell their ideas to the networks, which would prove challenging. ”Winner Take All” was their first successful effort using a lockout buzzer system and was the first game show to place two contestants against one other. It also true it was game show of endurance because winners would return each week until they were defeated. 

“Winner Take All” became the first Goodson-Todman television show debuting on July 8, 1948 on CBS. Next was “What’s My Line?” debuting later February 1, 1950. These gentlemen would tell you taking a game show live on the networks was risky business because you never knew what contestants would say or do that could not be edited out. It became quite interesting at times. 

Goodson and Todman would go on to achieve great success for decades with “Beat the Clock” from 1950-61, “By Popular Demand” in 1950, “It’s News to Me” from 1951-54, “The Name’s the Same” from 1951-55, “I’ve Got a Secret” from 1952-67, “Two for the Money” from 1952-57, and a host of others that made this partnership a household name. We’d hear the announcer say, “This has been a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production!” at the conclusion of each show. 

As the 1960s unfolded, Goodson-Todman had created some of the most successful game shows U.S. history. Mark Goodson and Bill Todman would enjoy a successful partnership until Todman’s death in 1979. It was a remarkable journey for both men and the personalities they made famous. 

Ever since the dawn of television, the viewing public has loved game shows. Undoubtedly the most popular game show in history has to be Merv Griffin’s “JEAPARDY!” – which is pretty much tied with “The Price Is Right…” Both have enjoyed huge viewer share for decades. The loss of Alex Trebeck as “Jeopardy’s” host in 2020 after a 36-year run was, to say the least, a tragic loss for viewers who loved his unique ability and talent.

What has made “Jeopardy!” so popular is its ability of challenging viewer minds, which has formed a healthy addiction to a game show that has survived the times. ”Jeopardy!” was originally hosted by Art Fleming, who handed the mike off to Alex in 1984. Trebeck’s unique gift of knowledge and curiosity along with his engaging personality was what made the show click with viewers.

Televised game shows were nothing new when they made it to television in the mid 1940s. Game shows became popular first on radio in the 1930s, which got us hooked early on. In fact, they captured audiences who also listened to Soap Operas to pass the time. These programs were popular among housewives as they took care of homes, babies, and growing children. 

Few of us will ever forget the names of those who hosted these shows – Bob Barker, Monty Hall, Tom Kennedy, Richard Dawson, Peter Marshall, Gene Rayburn, Bill Cullen, Allen Ludden, Bud Collyer, Gary Moore, Dennis James, Groucho Marx, Bert Convy, Bob Eubanks, Wink Martindale, Dick Clark, Chuck Woolery, and a host others. Their names remain etched in our memories.

As children, game shows were something heard in the background as we played, and yet they got our attention because they challenged our minds. Whatever your reason for remembering game shows, you can bet they will continue to be something we just can’t turn off. 

I tend to obsess over our “obsession” with electronics as 2024 unfolds, but it is surely true we have a problem with our love affair with electronics in the new year. We just can’t put down our cell phones, tablets, and personal computers. 

I speak from experience as I sit at a PC writing this missive. 

I am obsessed too. 

Because I am a writer, I spend a lot of time at a personal computer hammering out words that hopefully mean something. There are also plenty of hours spent in Facebook, eBay, Amazon, YouTube (a personal favorite) and streaming networks. 

I treasure the vintage footage I find in YouTube. 

Though endlessly entertaining, this is not healthy. When you’re staring at a cell phone, laptop, tablet, or PC, you are missing out on life. You are missing the dance. In routine conversation, we ask what on Earth did we do before cell phones and computers? What kept us preoccupied?  

We used our imaginations. 

That’s how we escaped. We pretended. I’d fly model airplanes around my bedroom and pretend to be a passenger or pilot flying to a destination. I’d lay out a city on a plywood board and drive Matchbox diecast cars around them. I loved playing with LEGOs. I built balsa wood homes on a card table using whatever I could find. I took long journeys in my mind. 

I’d run down to the garage and don my SEARS bicycle clad in red. I added accessories and pretended my bike was a car. Because I loved bowling, I wanted to build a bowling alley. I wanted a huge-long basement with enough room to build a pair of bowling lanes complete with automatic pinsetters.

I could not wait to grow up and buy my own home because I loved architecture. I loved home improvement. I dreamed of buying an old home and renovating it into the home of my dreams – my imagination. I fantasized about hitting the open road in my first car and going wherever the pavement took me. 

What seems to have been lost in recent decades has been fresh ideas as a result of not using our imaginations. A lot of what Hollywood seems to be bringing us these days are redo’s of old sitcoms and movies instead of fresh approaches. The same can be said for commercials. They lack to say the least. They lack imagination – inspiration.

We have the creative tools necessary to create incredible images and storylines. We just aren’t using our imaginations. Think of television of the 1950s and sixties where imagination ran amuck. ”Mister Ed,” “I Dream of Jeanie,” “Bewitched,” “Time Tunnel,” “Lost In Space,” “Star Trek,” “I Love Lucy,” “Dick Van Dyke,” “Andy Griffth,” and a host of others. 

Each of these time proven creations have endured the times – so loved by the masses across the generations. My teenage son, born in 2008, will sit there and laugh with us taking in an episode of “The Flintstones” or “Andy Griffith.” It was all about raw productive imagination that came of just doing nothing. It worked.

Have you just sat and used your imagination lately? 

        

I’ve been a licensed driver for 52 years. That I have survived as a licensed driver boils down to what I was taught in Driver’s Education and what I’ve learned from on-the-road experience since. You learn what works and…what doesn’t. In the summer of 1972, I was 16 and spent the entire summer in Driver’s Ed. What I was taught that summer has never left me.

The following spring in 1973, I had my first and only ever chargeable accident. I had just dropped my sister off at junior high school. As I made my way around the median, I learned my first lesson as a licensed driver – look both ways before proceeding. I was hit by a school bus – then – thrust into a huge tree. I heard kids yelling “TIMBER!!!” as the tree hit the ground. I wanted to crawl under a rock and never be seen again. 

To add insult to injury, I ran home two blocks away – leaving the scene of the accident. When my father asked where the car was, I explained and was scolded by him for leaving the scene of an accident. When he and I returned to the accident site, a county police officer was waiting for me to explain to me why you never leave the scene of an accident. It was very humiliating. 

I perceived we’d just pay the fine and would be done. My father wasn’t having any parts of that, which would prove very educational for me. He took time off from work to escort me to traffic court where I would stand before a judge – which at 16 was very intimidating. The judge explained to me the importance of obeying rules of the road and that he better not see me again. 

As I reflect upon that first accident and what I learned from it, I am reminded of just how dangerous the roads are today. Schools here in Los Angeles don’t provide Driver’s Ed. Parents are not punctuating the importance of being a responsible motorist. As much as I hate ragging on young people (we’ve all been young people), they are the most dangerous drivers on the road today. Every time I see some crazy stunt on the freeway or red-light runners, they are committed by young people with zero respect for the rules of the road. 

I’m doing 70-80 mph and I have some young buck sitting 12-inches from my back bumper or some impatient soul flies past me at 120 in a Honda. They believe life is one big video game. Only this is reality – not virtual reality. You come home in a box after “GAME OVER” when your family lays you to rest. You’re not just affecting your own life – but the lives of others.

This is where rigorous driver education and parental discipline comes into play. What’s more, we need greater levels of law enforcement and respect for the police. What are we teaching young people today? Hands off parenting doesn’t work.

My point here is simple. What worked a half century ago can still work today. Intensive driver education, real enforcement of traffic laws, responsible parenting, and consequences for wrongdoing will make the roads safer. When law enforcement is visible – and even when it isn’t – people slow down. When there are no consequences for reckless driving, there’s little incentive to obey the rules. That goes for me and it goes for all of us.

I am grateful for what I was taught by great educators, mentors, and my parents. What they taught me long ago remains with me today. No matter how old you are, ask yourself…”How safe am I at the wheel?” You’re never too old to learn.   

               

As we enter 2024 – sure to be a year of change – it is time to ask ourselves how we can be better. Whether or not we notice, things do get a little better in some ways each day while other things grow worse. This has always been true across time. 

In 2024, we must resolve to be kinder to one another and do more for each other. This would be a good start. When you focus on giving, you begin to feel better about yourself. When you feel better about yourself, you ask more and more what you can do for others.

See how easy that is?

Ever since I could toddle, I’ve always loved the elderly and always will. When I was very little, I lived across the Potomac River from Washington across from Fort Myer. I hung out with retired old folks who donned their webbed lawn chairs and would chat for hours on end as traffic roared by on Route 50 going to and from Washington. They didn’t need cell phones and other electronic devices.

They had each other.

Because I grew up with old people with good old-fashioned values and manners, I learned simple courtesies that seem to have been lost to the ages. I don’t see the level of kindness today that existed at the dawn of the 1960s. My grandparents were always quick to remind me of the words “please” and “thank you.” My grandfather, especially, always corrected the absence of simple manners. You either remembered to practice manners or there were consequences. 

Old school child rearing was quite simple. You either learned or you suffered. Pain teaches. All my grandfather had to do was glare at you across a room and you’d better walk away clean. He never spanked us. All he had to do was focus a disciplined stare. It was called respect for your elders. Although he never hit us, we didn’t want to find out the hard way. We did as we were told.  

This is why I continue to practice courtesies my elders taught me a lifetime ago. I hold the door for those behind me. I will always hold the car door for a lady. I exercise “please” and “thank you” with reckless abandon. When someone says, “Thank You…” I always respond with “You’re welcome…” When someone enters a room or my home, I greet them with a warm welcome. A handshake and a smile communicate who you are in a matter of seconds. 

When I am in line and there’s doubt about who is first, I allow the other party to go first. I find I haven’t lost anything and I am only one person away from the end game. 

No harm putting someone else first.   

As I near seven decades on this apple, I find I am still very fond of old people. I have become an “old people” with many of the same concerns my elders had a lifetime ago. Much as I did as a child, I remember the vulnerability I witnessed in old people when I was a little kid. I felt such empathy for them as their entered the latter of their lives. They needed help getting by. That emotion has never left me and will always be a part of me. All those old folks I remember from a grassy lawn behind the buildings are gone. However, what they taught me has gone the distance and cannot be measured. 

I remain of them.    

As January becomes part of the past with fluid precision, let us all resolve to do better and ask ourselves how we can practice kindness in our daily routines. Do volunteer work. Deliver meals to the poor and elderly. Check in on an elderly neighbor or transport them to the doctor. It’s easy and won’t take up much time. It will make you feel good all day long.

Do you remember the way it used to be on the holidays at the Mall? Festive…it really felt like Christmas. It doesn’t feel that way anymore. Perhaps it is where we are in life. We’re not kids anymore with the innocence of a child. That was the real beauty of being a kid. We really didn’t know the world was going around. 

When I was a kid growing up in suburban Washington/Baltimore, I had my favorite haunts. I suppose you did too. We had Parole Plaza ten miles to the East in Annapolis just off U.S. Route 50 known as the John Hanson Highway. Some called this stretch of pavement the Washington-Annapolis Expressway. We’d get off 50 and cruise along West Street to Parole Plaza. 

Parole Plaza wasn’t a shopping mall, but instead an old-fashioned shopping center with an open-air mall. It was cold with the crisp holiday aroma of woodsmoke in the air and a chilly breeze across our faces. We didn’t care it was raining or snowing. Our cheeks shown a bright red from the cold. It felt good to walk in from the cold into the warmth of SEARS at the holidays.

SEARS was my most favorite place in the whole world. It remains my greatest Christmas memory. You’d enter the store and be greeted with the smell of popcorn and the euphoric demeanor of holiday lights, Christmas trees all aglow, Burl Ives on a SEARS Silvertone stereo console display model with an LP on the turntable, the huge rush of the toy department, and a host of other Christmastime nuances that remind us of our Christmas past.

Department stores were the places dreams were made of. Chances are our parents could not afford the elaborate gifts we wanted which meant Christmas morning would probably yield disappointment. I wanted a new Whirlybird helicopter for my fifth Christmas. I had my heart set on it yet not one store had one. Although it was something I wanted badly, my disappointment vanished amid the treasure trove of other Christmas gifts Santa brought. 

These days, the thrill of Christmas has changed from what was in it for us to the excitement of watching our grandbabies march down the stairs and into the living room, which helps us relive the thrill of being children wondering how Santa came down the chimney we didn’t have.  

December 20, 1923….Lillian Amanda Proctor-Smart….my mother. She would have been 100 today. She passed at 84 in 2008 from dementia. Lillian was a native-born Washington girl who came of age at a time when we were entering a world war and D.C. was about to change dramatically. She was raised to be strong.

By anyone’s standards my mother was a hottie – beautiful. She had survived tuberculous after six long months in bed. In that time – she had a lot of time to think about life outside of her bedroom window. She grew up in Washington, Arlington, and Falls Church. She worked for Arlington County on Courthouse Hill. She was also employed by the C&P Telephone Company and the Department of Agriculture before settling into married life. Her background as an operator served her well. She taught us telephone etiquette. And God help us if we didn’t use it.

My mother was reared by Lt. Paul W. Proctor and my grandmother – Anne K. Proctor. My grandfather was solid integrity. He had a career spanning decades with the Metropolitan Washington Police Department and The White House Police Force. He served under several administrations including FDR and Truman.

My granddaddy retired in 1946 in the wake of a heart attack and settled in Arlington across from Fort Myer. My mother was surely of my grandfather and raised us the same way he raised her. She was always my conscience. Whenever a sentence began with “Now Jamie…” or “Honey…you need to think about this…” I knew she was right. She was my greatest friend – my bestie – for more than a half century. When I was losing my mind at 3 a.m. well into adulthood, she had the broadest shoulders. She listened…

My mother always said, “In the end, we’re all responsible for our own lives…” She was correct – and – at times it was frightening. We are indeed responsible for our own lives.

She raised us well.

Today – I present my mother in a Celebration of Life she has long deserved. She stood by all of us no matter what we were going through. I’ve had some mighty tough times as an adult. Through it all – she stood by me. She didn’t always tell me what I wanted to hear – but let me know what I needed to hear. To toughen up…

She spoke from her own life. She never had it easy. She watched my uncle head off to the war in the Pacific for four long years. My Uncle Wayne came home a different man from what he’d been through. He was a Marine through and through. He and my aunt raised two terrific men – my cousins. John served with C&P Telephone and Steve with the Maryland State Police.

My mother had a tough time conceiving my sisters and me. She and our birth father were married from 1948-1957. It took her several years to conceive and with a lot of help from fertility experts who did what they could to help.

We arrived in 1953, 1956, and 1959. It worked…

Anyone who knew Mom knew they had a great friend and cohort in crime. She had a terrific sense of humor and a sharp mind. She remained strong throughout her life and was hardened by life – yet she never lost her ability to love.

She married Jack Smart in March of 1958. Together – they raised us and made us feel safe and protected. She always went to bat for us. In the late 1980s, she began the long descent into Dementia. In 1987, she and our dad left D.C. and retired to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. I was not always sure she liked it there. They lived there until each passed in 2001 and 2008 respectively.

I have missed my mother terribly through the years. She passed on June 20, 2008 peacefully in her sleep. I will always miss our chats. Reared in Washington, she knew politics. That was her favorite subject. This is where I got my love of politics for better or worse.

I come by it honestly.

Today….we honor my mother’s memory, her love of family, and her engaging demeanor. I will forever love you, Mom.