MOTHER'S DAY

Today...May 8, 2011...is Mother’s Day.

In March...my mother would have turned 99 years old…but she died at age 59. I never had the typical mother-son relationship with my mother. You see...she developed a mental illness that consumed much of her life. Because of that...mom wasn’t around much of my life.

When I was 3, mom was placed in the Evansville State Hospital…a hospital for mentally ill individuals. Outside of holiday visits home and an occasional short term leave…mom stayed in that hospital until I was 17 years old. I was 18 when she died.

Mom never got to be that mother figure...that moms are supposed to be. Oh…she loved me dearly and wrote me often…but she wasn’t at home like she’d like to have been.

I had other wonderful family members who filled in for my mom. My sister Joan…my sister-in-law Sylvia…my sister Jean…all helped to raise me...all wonderful women in my life…all wonderful mothers to their own children…and me.

I happened to marry a wonderful woman too…who became a wonderful mother. Now...she’ll tell you she’s not so sure about that...being a good mother and all. But I think all mothers probably wonder if they were a good mother…just like all fathers wonder if they were a good father. But I’ll tell you…she’s a great mom...just like she's a great wife.

So on this special day that we recognize the women in our lives...to my mom…my sisters…and my wife…Happy Mothers Day.

Thanks for all the wonderful things you’ve done for me…in my life.

Love to all of you.

Dan