My mother made it a goal to make it to the end of her life without ever having to pump her own gas, and she made it. I would tell her she really should learn to do this, but she said “Nah.”

My mother was an excellent swimmer, a gardener, and a duck hunter in her early days. She loved summer, and peanut butter, and reading, and mechanical pencils, and scotch. She hated winter and itchy fabrics. Due to repeated sinus infections her sense of smell was diminished so when she was concerned she stank she would ask me “Do I stink? You gotta smell me. You know I don’t smell good.”

She was stubborn and funny and loved to learn. She couldn’t whistle. But she could wiggle her nose. I am the only one of her three daughters that could do that too. I also am the only one that has her short pinky too.

She was extraordinarily brave. She IS extraordinarily brave.