I'd like to acknowledge the inspiration for this short book, my mother. When I learned she had terminal cancer, I was truly saddened. Our relationship over my lifetime was distant at times for varied reasons, but as my family grew, I came to realize and understand more clearly the difficulties she suffered. This common ground rekindled and nurtured our bond. It blossomed with her doting on her grandsons, sharing traditions, and being a loving grandmother. Now she was dying. My desire was to recount joyful childhood experiences as a small, yet inadequate gesture of appreciation. I wrote one each month, contained within a letter