>>He died last May and I miss him a lot more than I expected to. I still want to pick up the phone and call him.
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>It's been 3.5 years since my mom died and I still sometimes walk into the house, look at the answering machine and wonder if there's a message from her. Lately, a lot of news items have made her close to mind. She would have been out protesting over the cuts in Philly schools and she would have been furious over the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act. (I suspect she would have been working with the League of Women Voters, where she was a 50+-year member, on how to respond to the latter.)
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I remember when your mom died. it's hard to believe it's been 3.5 years. Needless to say, you are in every way her daughter and your father's. Liberalism has become a dirty word in this country. Some people should live in other places and other times to know otherwise. You know what I mean.

I am smiling again looking at that picture. Not because I was in a picture with an American President. It was what is called in journalism grip and grin. It's the look on Allie's face. She was born standing up and talking back. She is 23 now, trying to figure out what she wants to do in life. Those here without children may not be able to imagine the love a parent has for a child. You would literally die for them.