Losing your Mother at...

the age of seventeen is miserable.

To this day, I think about how much I missed out on. I never got to know Clara Sambur as an adult. I never got the chance to have real conversations with her. I was denied the opportunities to get her opinions on how I was maneuvering through life. I've always felt cheated.

Would she have approved of my choices or just smiled and went along with them? 

I'll never know the answer.  What I do know is she gave me my smile. She gave me my love of the written word. She gave me my nurturing and affectionate side. She taught me the joy of giving and receiving hugs. She gave me my ability to herd someone with a gentle touch on their elbow. She passed on her bliss of being in the sun's snuggling rays. 

Mom! You passed on my best traits in those seventeen years of knowing you. 

Thank you! 

I wish you were around a whole lot longer.

You would have made me a better all-around human.

I still miss you.