For My Mom

Esther May Jung Chou February 13, 1926 - February 16, 2021 My mom passed away peacefully Tuesday evening. As many of you know from my recent posts, she had just turned 95 years old days earlier. When I was reminding her of her impending February birthday, she thoughtfully quipped, “maybe I can make it to a hundred.” My mom probably didn’t feel that comfortable or confident being a mom. But she was truly great. I remember mom challenging me with playing Hangman and Dots and Boxes when I was a little kid. She’d quiz me about how to spell words, or correct me about pronunciations. When I got sick and missed the first two weeks of Eighth Grade, I made something like a 98 point score on the spelling quiz given during my first 8th Grade English class with Mary Patnaud, even though I’d missed being given the vocabulary material in previous class meetings. I have to think that mom’s “games” contributed to my innate skills. Mom loved movies. She could name actors on sight - and while I also pos