A Loving And Nurturing Angel

My mother is a saint. If we were Catholic, she would be well on her way to beatification by now.

My mother was born and raised here in the Twin Cities. The only time she lived elsewhere was when she was in college, when she lived in Northfield, a small town not far South of the Twin Cities. Northfield has two renowned small colleges, Saint Olaf and Carleton. My mother attended and graduated from Carleton.

My mother studied literature and French in college, and she has great artistic instincts. She appreciates and understands art and literature and music at the very highest and deepest levels.

Although she could have done anything with her life that she wanted, my mother wanted nothing more than to have and care for a family. She came from a large and prominent family herself, in which she was the youngest child, and all she ever wanted was to have her own family to love and nurture. She got her wish.

I have often asked my mother whether she regrets not having a daughter, or whether she regrets not having more children. Whenever I ask her this, she always throws her head back and laughs riotously, telling me that caring for three rambunctious sons and a husband, and keeping us going, was more than enough for her to handle.

My Mom has never worked outside the home, although she has always been extremely active in our church and in various philanthropic endeavors.

My mother adores my father, and she has always treated him like a prince (and he has always treated her like the precious gem she is). My parents are a genuine love match, and it is clear to everyone--strangers, acquaintances and intimates--that they were made for each other. They are inseparable--they go everywhere together, side by side--and their strengths and differences complement each other.

My father is highly analytical, while my mother has infallible (and even spooky) instincts. She always knows, with the slightest glance, what every other member of the family is thinking and feeling. She always knows exactly the right thing to say or do to make people feel comfortable, happy and content. This is a very special gift she has, and has always had, since she was a child.

My mother loves to cook, and she takes great joy in cooking for my father and for her three sons (as well as for her new, fourth son, Joshua). She can cook anything and everything, to perfection, as guests to our home quickly find out. No dinner invitation in Edina is more coveted than one to my mother's table.

In the last year, my mother has been granted two new and great gifts: my friend, Joshua, and her first grandchild, a baby boy born in October 2005, the son of my oldest brother and his wife. My mother and father travel to New York about once a month to see their new grandchild and to visit with my brother and my sister-in-law and to help out around the house. Babies create lots of work! My father jokes that my mother, after all these years of living in the Twin Cities, now wants to move to New York!

My father and my brothers and I are very fortunate to have such a loving and nurturing angel selflessly looking out for us at all times.