This little lady would be 90 today.

Thank you, Mother / Gra'Mommy / Boots / Duch(ess) / Wolfie, for everything. Thank you for being a safe place, a rock, a harbor, a guide, a shield. Thank you for a lifetime's worth of Halloween costumes, Christmas trees, birthday cakes, traditions that lace the strands of a family together across time and distance. Thank you for poached eggs on toast at the end of every bad day.

Thank you for Brahms' lullaby, for "Too Ra-Loo Ra-Loo Ral," for Bluecrest, for CHOCO and for Mary Poppins. Thank you for helping me find Santa Claus in the night sky, for wishing on the first star, for "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Thank you for "Now I lay me down to sleep" every night, and for magic kisses to help me drift away. Thank you for enduring eyerolls, adolescent rebellion, and the misgivings of a young girl learning to navigate life's complications. Thank you for letting your baby girl run far, far away to learn to see the world through a wider lens, even though letting go nearly broke your heart.

Thank you for giving my boy and me a soft place to land during a painful divorce. Thank you for making sure my boy always had a beautiful handmade Halloween costume. Thank you for showing Christina that a graceful, elegant young woman can stay true to herself and still "make it" in a challenging world. Thank you for teaching us what infinite love looks like.

Thank you for the honor of letting me care for you in your last days, for my dismal attempt to mirror a tiny fraction of what you gave me for 50 years.

I miss you, Mother, every day of my life. But the ability to appreciate and embrace that life is your legacy, and I am grateful. Soar with the angels, today, Mother. Dance with Daddy, love the little boys you lost too soon, chat with Neenie, and oh, for the love of all that's holy, don't let Tia's little-bitty feet touch the ground! Your babies are doing fine. We love you.