One more story for now. This was just about 2 months ago. Mom had recently lost weight and started working out. Well she bought a stair stepper, one of those small steppers with no handlebars. None of us could keep our balance on that thing, including mom. She asked if maybe ben could weld on some handlebars. So he took it and knowing mom's humor, he welded not only a pole and handlebars, but the kind of frilly pink tassels you would see on a little girls bicycle, sparkles and everything. I went to deliver the finished stepper to mom. She was waiting in the living room when I got there. Before I showed it to her I told her "I don't know what you will think of this, but Ben added some special touches for you." She said, "oh I'm sure he did a fantastic job...." as she was finishing her sentence I revealed her new stepper and she stopped in her tracks howling with laughter so hard tears leaked from her eyes. She laughed and laughed and laughed and said "my boy knows me, this is perfect" and I don't know how long she laughed, but having the catching laugh she had, me, reuben and her were all laughing so much. It was a simple day, but so special, not because of anything huge, but because she laughed.

So we all know about when the towers got hit on 9/11/2001. Ben deployed to afghanistan. We had been married just a few months and were 19 years old. I didn't have a clue how to handle it, so I got in the car and drove from new york to california. I went to mom and dads house. They made up a bed for me in the living room. Mama sat up with me all night while I watched the news, cried, vented and anything else I did, she just sat and listened for awhile holding me. Then she spent hours assuring me that if anyone would be fine over there, it would be our Ben. She herself was worried as all mom's would be, but she was my rock, comforting me. And like every encounter with mom, before long she had me laughing and feeling better. She could take any situation no matter how sad or troubling and she just had a way of invoking comfort, peace and laughter.

Ben and I had just gotten married. We went back to mom and dad's with the wedding gifts, deciding to open them with the family before heading out the next morning on our honeymoon. We were sitting cross legged on the floor, sorting through it all, when I suddenly felt an icy cold sensation down the back of my pants, and heard the loud howling and laughter ...I turned to see mom with a cup in her hands running back toward the kitchen. Between fits of giggles, she said "Welcome to the family." She had dumped ice water down my pants. She told ben to "take me to warm up." That's the story, simple prank that has become a fond memory....and a family joke. She loved to tease, prank, laugh. I can't remember very many times with her that we all didn't end up in fits of giggles.