After some time recovering, mom didn’t know what to do. She eventually moved to the east coast to live near my grandmother. She lived there for a few years, reconnecting with her mom and various friends. My grandmother passed away in 2016, and shortly thereafter, she moved back to the Seattle area to be near her kids and grandkids.

She’s worked hard to have a third act as a loving grandmother for the last 6 years, and she was well-loved. We’re all going to miss her. #rememberingmom

We eventually moved to Florida, and mom started working as a journalist. She would continue to do so for the next 15+ years, including after we moved to Wenatchee

After becoming an empty nester, something happened that I don’t fully understand. Eventually, she and my step-dad moved back to the small town in California where they met.

We had an unsuccessful intervention for alcohol, and after another few years, my step-dad killed himself. More trauma! #rememberingmom

Shockingly, mom’s marriage started doing poorly, and she separated from my father. Sometime around here, my uncle passed away from the aortic dissection, too.

While working as a cocktail waitress, a woman threw a 13 ball from the pool table at her boyfriend, but hit mom in the head instead. She dropped, and one of the musicians in the band rushed to her side. He would eventually become my step-father.

Shortly afterward, my father killed himself, inflicting further trauma on mom #rememberingmom

After marrying this man, my mom became pregnant with me. My father had given up his daughter to _his_ sister, but he regularly visited her with mom. One day, they drove to visit, and my father told mom to wait in their van. He came out with my sister, and they then just drove to California.

Unbeknownst to mom, he had put in for a transfer to a military base on the west coast. And instead of negotiating with his sister to get custody back, he just took her across the country. #rememberingmom

Mom went to Emerson College in Boston, and double majored in English and journalism. Henry Winkler is also a graduate of Emerson.

After mom graduated, my grandmother convinced her to go to Iowa to separate her from her college boyfriend. While I’m Iowa, she worked at the Heinz factory, and later turned me off to ketchup by telling me they had standards for the amount of cockroach contamination. #rememberingmom

Grandma eventually got work in an electronics factory, and even had security clearance because of her work.

Mom learned to be pretty self-sufficient early on, and also had to do a lot of cooking and cleaning for the family. She told me that her brother and sister had a lot of freedom, but she had to handle a lot of the housework. #rememberingmom