Eileen and Larry Somers

One of the things I heard a LOT in the late 70s / early 80s: "Watch your tone of voice!" I would snarl back, " What tone of voice?" I had so much attitude! When I was older (young 20s), I apologized to my mom for how awful I had been as a 13-year-old (and 14, 15, . . . ). She just laughed. "Seriously, mom. I was such a brat. I'm so sorry for how I talked to you." She shrugged it off. I think she was waiting for me to experience that with my own children. Alas, she didn't realize that my boys were very different than their mom had been as a teen. None of them was ever as awful to me as I was to my own mother! I'm glad I apologized to her when I did. Even though we had another twenty or so years together, I feel as though my ability to reflect and appreciate only grow with my own aging. I can now better understand how she could be so sanguine about my youthful awfulness.

My (Jeanne) sister Louise gave me a box of stuff last week. Our mom was a prodigious saver -  partly a product of being a Depression-era baby and partly the packrat/save everything just-in-case/ you never know mentality that some farmers and teachers just seem to develop. The box was mostly full of Star Tribune newspaper clippings on various topics that interested our mom during the 2000s. Some of the handwritten things caught my eye, though. They're not really "worth" hanging on to. I have other, more meaningful examples of my mom's handwriting. But they do provide some clues to things that in retrospect, I wish I'd been more tuned in to what my mom was dealing with in 2006.  I remember when she was having some trouble with getting up and walking. (Dealing with arthritis in my left knee at the age of 53 makes me more cognizant of the fact that my mom didn't struggle with these issues until her 70s!) This note caught me off guard. It was a concern of h...