Classic Rant #1,207 (May 14, 2014): Life Goes On

 have found that it is pretty hard to do much of anything now where I am not thinking about the horrific accident I had over the weekend.

I know this will pass, but you are going to have to bear with me for a few more days.

Yesterday was another day of constant phone calls, and last night, I went to the doctor.

I have been having off and on headaches since the crash, and I haven't quite felt like myself.

The doctor told me that I have something akin to post traumatic stress syndrome.

Evidently, my body, having been through great trauma, is slowly trying to get itself back to normal.

I expended a lot of adrenalin during this episode, and the body can take some time to return to normal.

And that includes my head, and my brain.

The headaches are simply a signal that this process is progressing, a simple sign that my head is getting back in shape.

He told me that if the headaches get worse, I should let him know, because then, it is something else.

Onto other things, I really feel uncomfortable driving the car that I was given as a loaner.

It is a sports car, and it just isn't me.

I have to put some gas in the car today, not that much because I only plan to drive this through Friday, when I am going to return the car.

I will drive my mom's car next week if I have to, an old Hyundai that looks like who did it and ran. It has a non-working radio, but if I have to drive it, I will.

Anyway, on the car I have now, I noticed that the gas tank does not have a cap. That is how it was designed.

I did a little research on it, and yes, it was supposed to come without a cap, to make ease of use while pumping even easier.

Huh? No gas cap making things easier? Have we come to that in today's society, where the extra couple of movements to put back your gas cap after you pump up is considered negligible?

Get me another car, please!

By Friday, both adjusters--one from my insurance company, the other from the guy who hit me's company--will have seen my old car.

The first adjuster--the one from the other company--has already listed the car as totaled, as he called me yesterday with the news. I am simply waiting for my guy to go over and check it out.

I was told, evidently before I was supposed to know, according to someone with the other insurance company, that they have assumed full liability. I won't get into the whys and wherefores, but someone there did not seem to be too happy that I already knew this.

Tough tomatoes.

Now I await my check, from which I will buy another car.

I can't wait, and honestly, I can't wait until I can move on from this thing and talk about other stuff.

Right now, I simply can't do it.

Sorry.

Rant #2,537: Tell It Like It Is

The Democratic presidential race is going to go down to the wire, and we have Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders pretty much distancing themselves from the field at this moment.

And if this is the best that the Democrats can offer, then sorry to those who have such a distaste for our president, but I cannot see Donald Trump losing this battle.

The real wild card here is Michael Bloomberg, the owner of a multi-billion-dollar organization who has all the money in the world to spend on his latest plaything, which is buying himself into the presidency.

For those who live outside the New York Metropolitan Area, he did much the same thing to get his third term as mayor of New York City, using a loophole and spending scads of money to demonstrate to the ignorant electorate of the Big Apple--who will vote for just about anyone on the Democratic ticket--that he was the only candidate that mattered.

His 12 years spent as mayor of New York City were every bit as controversial as current Mayor deBlasio's reign of terror, if anyone cares to recall it correctly. His elitist "let them eat cake" views, in particular when snowstorms came, symboized his mayorality, and let's all remember that the press could not "pester" him on the weekends, where he was nowhere to be found--he told the press so by saying that on Saturdays and Sundays, he would be in the Hamptons with his girlfriend, so don't go looking for him.

He also has taken credit for leading the turnaround after 9/11 in New York City, which is total balderdash. Mayor Giuliani, a Republican, set that ball in motion, would have run again if term limits were not in place for him, and his successes as mayor as a Republican allowed Bloomberg to win as a Republican. Let's get that very straight.

And remember, not only did he begin his political life as a Republican, but he only changed to the Democratic Party to further make him more attractive to the ignorant voters of the city, who again, will seemingly vote for anyone on the Democratic ticket.

No, this is not the guy you want as president, no matter what fellow rich kid Judge Judy tells you.

Anyway, related to Biden and Sanders, you just know that cancer that is Bloomberg is not going to go away so quickly, not when he is spending millions upon millions of dollars to skirt the campaign and the primaries and buy his way into the White House.

So come November, I am hereby predicting that Bloomberg--who has absolutely no chance to get the Democratic nomination--will be one of three candidates running for president.

We will have the choice of the Democrats--I think it will be Biden, but he really is the weakest choice of the party since Mondale, to be honest with you--and of course you will have our current president running as the Republican choice, and then, believe it or not, you will have Bloomberg, who is not spending money like this to eventually sit on the sidelines.

He will run as an independent, trying to usurp votes from both disgruntled Democrats and Republicans, existing as an "alternate" choice for those from both parties who simply cannot vote for their respective parties' candidate.

And to Bloomberg's credit, I will bet that he will get a double-digit percentage of the votes, and yes, he will take away votes from both Trump and Biden.

But he won't win, not by a long shot, but you have to be in it to win it ... and Bloomberg's strategy has always been to be in it, or at least have one foot in it and one foot planning to be a candidate whatever the outcome of the primaries.

Look, I could be 100 percent wrong on everything. Maybe Bloomberg--a friend of Trump, by the way--will gracefully bow out, and lick his wounds by himself.

Maybe Biden will continue to roll through November and actually win this race.

Maybe Trump will fall flat on his face running for his second term.

And maybe the New York Knicks will win the 2019-2020 NBA championship.

But let's be realistic, none of this is going to happen.

It will be a three-man horserace, with Trump in the "win" position, Biden in the "place" position, and Bloomberg firmly in the "show" position.

Again, this is my opinion, and this is my blog, so I can say it here, and more importantly, this is America, so I can say what I want and you can too.

That is the beauty of our country, and whoever becomes president, nobody will ever take away that voice.

Sure, money again has proven to be everything, but even the little man can say what he wants, whether he has millions in his bank account or just a dollar there.

And this little man is talking, and I do believe that President Donald Trump will win the prize once again, although I will be giving kudos come November to his opponents, who will put up a good fight but will not succeed in removing the president from the Oval Office.

So yes, I guess this is my endorsement, for whatever it is worth, of Donald Trump for president.

But all be wary, because Bloomberg will still be around come Election Day.

That is my prediction, although admittedly, Kreskin I am not.

And this might just be the final political entry I write here about the presidency, because I do find it pretty boring, and I have personal matters to attend to.

So there you have it, and take it for what it is ... just one man's opinion, nothing more.

Classic Rant #1,206 (May 13, 2014): It's a Laugh

I promise, I am not going to talk ad nauseum about my car accident.

But yesterday ended up being a very, very busy day, and I can find humor in almost anything, even in this incident.

Just let me start off by saying that yesterday, I had to answer so many calls from insurance companies and others that I really do feel like a victim, because even if you are in the right, as I was, the way things are set up, you are almost harassed by the many questions that you have to answer, constantly, over the period of a day because of the severity of the accident.

I did most of this at work, which made it really difficult to get any work done.

Also, I still do not feel like myself, and I have scheduled a doctor's appointment for myself tonight.

Anyway, for the humor ...

I go to get the rental car, and I simply ask them for the cheapest car that they have.

The cheapest one is a Ford Mustang, a sports car that would have been wonderful if I was 25 and looking to pick up girls, but as a 57 year old married father of two, people probably think I am going through some type of mid-life crisis by driving this car.

It can go 169 mph if I wanted to, but honestly, I doubt I will go 55 with this thing.

When I was at the hospital, they bring me in to a room and make sure I am comfortable. Mind you, I am still stretched out on a gurney, completely immobilized, but they ask me how I am doing, and nothing really hurt--I did have a slight scrape on my leg, but that was pretty much it, at least at the time--so I was feeling OK, I guess.

All of a sudden, a female--I guess a nurse--is taking off my shoes, then my socks, then my pants.

I think I yelled out, "What is going on?" or something like that, and the woman says that I am being prepared I think for a CAT scan.

I tell her that I have my wallet in my pocket, and I think I said to her, " ... and I expect to find that wallet right where it is when I come back."

I do remember that when I was rolled back, and told that I was fine and that I could get dressed, I did go into my wallet and counted my money.

Also in the hospital, I needed a security guard to escort me to where my wife and son were being checked out.

The guard said he liked my jacket. The jacket was a present from my wife, a Knicks jacket, and I have gotten a lot of response from a lot of people about this jacket.

Anyway, the guard says to me, "I shouldn't like that jacket, but I do."

I ask him why, and he says that his cousin played for the Knicks, and that his cousin did not have a good time playing for them.

"Who is your cousin," I asked.

He said Stephon Marbury.

If you are a basketball fan, you know the story of Marbury, and ultra-talented basketball player who seemed to be always on the outs. His reputation always preceded him wherever he played, and it probably led to the fact that his career was cut short not by his talent, but by his bad reputation.

It was serendipity, I thought, that I met this guy.

I told him to get a job at the Barclay's Center, where the Nets play--yes, Marbury once played for them, too--and by that time, we had located by family, so the conversation ended.

I know, these aren't laugh out loud funnies, but they make me smile, so at this point, I will take what I can get.

The one most annoying thing is that I am unable to get the police report. The local police have farmed out this part of their routine to an outside source, and not only do I have to wait to get this made available to me, I am going to have to pay for it, too.

After getting different responses from different police officers about how to obtain this necessary item, I finally was led to the right place, but I am not too happy about it.

I am almost killed in a car accident that I did not cause, yet I have to pay for the full report of this accident?

The humanity of it all!

Anyway, I am still alive, and my family is still alive, to laugh at all of this nonsense.

It is going to take a few weeks, but our lives will be put back together once I get a check in the mail from the other insurance company and I am able to buy a new car.

This is not the way I recommend to buy a new car, but it is, unfortunately, the way I am going to have to do this.

So let me at least enjoy driving my femalepickupmobile for this week, and I will let you know how things turn out when they do.

Rant #2,536: Good Clean Fun

No, yesterday was not good clean fun at all.

We went to the doctor for my father, and yes, he is anemic, and although it is not an emergency--for an 88 year old, he actually is in very good shape--he is going to need a double blood transfusion, which is scheduled for this Thursday.

His red blood cells are not where they should be, about one-quarter down from the optimum level, a level that he had just a year ago.

But his white blood cells are fine, everything else is fine, so the transfusion is being used as a precautionary tool, and also to find out why he is so anemic.

Again, it is not an emergency, because if it was, he would have been rushed to the hospital yesterday to have it done.

I am not saying it is all a bed of roses, but for an 88 year old, he is in pretty good shape.

He will be OK.

Me, I am not so sure. Dealing with all of this, and my own hazerai, is starting to get to me big time, but I guess I will be OK too.

Funny, but in between all the craziness that completely revolves around my life right now, I have had some time to watch some movies. I usually cannot sit and watch them all in one fell swoop--I have to break them up, watch them here, there and everywhere, over a period of days, but when I am in down time, I have been watching films of every level of cleverness, and every level of stupidity, and every level of somewhere in between all of that.

One of the films that I watched this weekend was "The Monolith Monsters," a 1957 sci-fi flick starring a bunch of grade-Z actors of the time, including Lola Albright and Grant Williams, and narrated by the legendary Paul Frees, who did similar duties on the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" show. The film was shown on the "Sevengoolie" show the other day, I fell asleep in the middle of it, so I figured that I would watch it on my own, so my wife and I watched it on Sunday night.

This is a little different type of sci-fi movie of the time, not dealing with "monsters," per se, but "things" that are growing and pummeling everything in their path. The story by Jack Arnold and Robert M. Fresco and directed by John Sherwood involves a meteorite that fell to earth just outside a small California town. It broke into pieces, and scattered in the desert.

The town is sun drenched, and rarely gets rain, but when it does rain, it rains cats and dogs. But before the rain comes, various citizens of the town come across the smaller pieces of the meteorite, and through no fault of their own, these stones get mixed with water, and multiply, not only destroying everything in their path but turning people who get in its way to stone.

The local geologist (every town has a local geologist, don't they?) gets involved, as does the school marm that he loves, the local newspaper man, the local doctor, and various other townsfolk, and through meticulous trial and error--more so than just about any such movie I have seen from that era--they fight off these rocks, which when wet, can grow to the size of skyscrapers, which they are doing at a quick rate, having been saturated by a tremendous rainstorm.

These skyscrapers fall apart under their own weight and height, and since the "monoliths" are moving forward and multiplying, that could mean doomsday for the small town and its residents. But the geologist and the doctor find a way to stop the onslaught, and everything is hunky dory by the end of the film.

There is a lot to like about this film, because again, it doesn't deal with "monsters" as we know them, but of "things" that are creating havoc. There seems to be some scientific basis for everything that is done to thwart off the monoliths, or at least everything sounds good to these ears.

There is one funny sequence where paper boys--and girls!--are needed to spread the word that the town needs to be evacuated. The monoliths have wiped out all communication, so the kids are needed to tell the townspeople that they need to leave.

The newspaperman gets one kid to lead the charge, telling him to get "every boy, and every girl" mobilized in this effort. The kid is ready to go, but then he tells the newspaperman, "I don't know how to say this, but when we kids do a job, we want to know how much we are getting paid."

The newspaperman looks at the town sheriff standing next to him, and then stares right into the kid's eyes. "When you understand the gravity of what you are doing, that will be payment enough!"

The kid runs away to get the other children to do the job without further questions. The newspaperman turns to the geologist and blurts out, "Kids today, All they think about is money!"

Anyway, it was a quite enjoyable 77-minute movie, one that I would highly recommend. You can find it at https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3z0rz8 and it is a real find, as I don't know if I had ever seen it previously.

I have a couple of other movies to tell you about, at decreasing quality, and let's see over the remainder of the week if I can fit them into whatever I am talking about.

Maybe, maybe not, and believe me, once we would get to the last one on the list, the quality has gone from the pretty good of "The Monolith Monsters" to really, really, really bad.

I was almost hoping that one of the monoliths would fall on my TV as I was watching these other films, and putting both me and the TV out of our misery.

Not quite, but it is all good clean fun, something that I need right at the moment, and something that I think we all need from time to time.

Classic Rant #1,205 (May 12, 2014): Happy To Be Alive

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.

I had a great day, too, but it was preceded by perhaps the worst day of my life.

The only good thing was that it could have been worse.

My family and I were driving along a major thoroughfare in our town on Saturday afternoon, going north on this main street, which is mainly residential where we were driving.

It was raining, and I had my lights and wipers on.

We were driving so that my son could fill out a job application at one of the local hardware stores. We got a tip that the place was hiring, so we were en route there.

Driving along, I hear my wife scream out, "Watch out!"

A car coming from one of the connecting side streets hit our car flush on the driver's side. The other car was going so fast, and the impact was so great, that it tumbled my car over on its roof, and we skidded to a halt on the side of the road.

Somehow, my wife got out of the car amidst the car turned upside down with glass all over the place. An ambulance and police came almost immediately, and they helped my son out of the car. He was hysterical and shouting, his adrenaline at full tilt, to the point where a fireman literally had to take him down.

But I was still in the car, upside down, still attached to the car in my seat by my seat belt. The EMTs, police and firemen tried to get me out of the car, but when I got my bearings, I was able to free myself from the seat. I moved over to the passenger door, and they put me on a stretcher and immobilized my head and body.

Evidently what happened is that the person in the other car, a kid of 24 or so, came right from the connecting street, never stopping at the stop sign on the street, and barreled into us, never seeing us until he hit us.

My family and I were taken to the local medical center, and except for some bruises, cuts and scrapes, we are OK. My wife's hand is pretty ripped up, but no broken bones. My son is OK, and I came through it pretty well. My neck hurts, and I have a bump on my forehead.

Now comes the hard part. I spoke to my insurance company, and they are going after the kid's insurance company for damages, which I should receive, less a deductable that I have on my policy.

I have no car. It was totaled, and it was towed to a local shop.

An adjuster has to look at the damage, rate its level--totaled, hopefully, because the car cannot be repaired--make his report, and then present it to the insurance company.

I also have to get the actual accident report from my local police precinct.

I get a rental car, and then pretty much wait to get a check in the mail.

I live in a no-fault state, so we are both right in this instance, and we are both wrong--there is no guilt ... and that is even though the other party is 1,000 percent at fault here.

But, of course, I am the one who is going to get ripped apart by this, as my insurance rates will go up, and I have to buy another car.

Ironically, another accident happened on Saturday very nearby to what happened to us, where another car flipped over. The people in that car weren't as lucky as we were, as four local high school students died in that crash.

Yes, we were very, very lucky.

First off, I should not complain. My family and I are alive. When I was hanging upside down, my son thought I was dead. My wife said to me that she thought that perhaps I had a broken back or other internal injuries.

Happily, I was shaken, but not stirred, and neither were they.

I want to thank the witnesses who called the accident into 911, the EMTs, the police, the firemen, and the doctors and nurses at the hospital for taking care of us during this ordeal.

And I thank my wife and son for their perseverance during this ordeal.

I thank God for allowing us to come out of this pretty much unscathed.

I thank my daughter. Even though she was not with us, when she was born in 1988, nearly 26 years ago, I began wearing my seat belt. Fun time was over, and as a new dad, I decided that I had to set the tone, and I have worn my seat belt ever since, because of her presence.

If it was not for that seat belt, I would be dead, and if not for their seat belts, my family would be gone, too.

And, of course, I thank my parents, family and friends for standing my us.

And for the kid who did this to us, he and his family were in the hospital room opposite ours, and all the mother did was stare in at me, and I stared back at her. I wish she would have simply said, "We are sorry," but I guess I should not have expected that.

If she would have said that, I would have simply said, "These things happen. Let's let the insurance companies handle it."

But all she did was stare, and all she got back from me was a stare back.

They didn't even deserve that.

Rant #2,535: As We Go Along

This weekend was not one of the most memorable I have had.

In fact, it was pretty bad.

The reality of the hole that I am in came full fore this weekend.

I did lots of driving on Saturday--driving my son to a doctor's appointment, driving to the barber for a haircut, driving my son to his bowling league, and later, driving my father to get a haircut.

(And by the way, he is better, and I will be driving him and my mother to see the blood doctor later today.)

Anyway, later on Saturday, I was going to meet my wife and her brother, her brother's wife, and our nephew at a local watering hole for dinner, and things went awry from there.

I was again behind the wheel, and I must have hit something, and hit something that I did not even know that I had hit, because by the time we got to the restaurant, my tire was pretty flat.

My son and I got back in the car, drove back to an auto place that I knew was open on Sunday--we barely got there, with the tire having barely enough air to get us there--and I left the car there, meeting my wife and her entourage there and going somewhere else to eat.

I also needed an oil change and an inspection, so I figured I would kill three birds with one stone, and just get it all done at once.

The car shop called the next day, and that is when the sticker shock did me in.

The total bill was over $400, as the tire was completely shot--heaven knows what I went over, but it totally destroyed the tire--and I need brakes to boot to pass inspection.

So here I am, $400 in the hole, after a week where my wife and I got destroyed by taxes, and to boot, we each got outrageous--and I mean, at least for us, unprecedented--doctor's bills in the mail.

Yes, we each got one, and my eyes nearly fell out of my head when I saw what we owed our doctor.

To pay the tax bill, I had to go into the savings account, which had a meager amount in it to begin with, and now, I foresee that I am going to have to do it again, because after nearly five months of being out of work, it has finally hit me where it really hurts, in the pocketbook.

I was doing OK for the first four months or so, paying what I had to pay and still having enough money for groceries, to pay rent, and to pay the other bills I get during the month.

And I even could pay for incidentals, like going out to eat every once in a while, sometimes to a fast food, sometimes to a real restaurant.

But with all of these most recent bills--including a nearly $400 bill that I had to pay the orthopedist when I was finished up there--I am down to seemingly my bottom dollar, forcing me to go into things I do not want to go into to barely keep afloat.

I wrote about this on Facebook yesterday, because I have to tell you, this entire mess I am in has made me a bit upset, but I was managing ... now I feel just so helpless.

"$400 car bill.

$300 medical bill.

$xxx tax bill.

Lots of other biils.

It is just so much fun to be out of work, isn't it?

No job, no money, no fun.

And I sit by my computer every day, hoping that some company will take "a chance" on me.

People tell me that this should be the best time in my life, and it is actually the worst time I have ever experienced.

And tomorrow, I will once again sit by my computer and hope that some company will take "a chance" on me.

(And by the way, on a Sunday, I actually applied for three positions ... and I won't hear from any of them.)"

And there is no remedy.

The remedy is obvious--get a job--but it seemingly does not work that way.

I wake up each day, do what I have to do, apply for jobs left and right, and I get nothing in return. At least if I could say that I got a few interviews out of it, I could say that it has been interesting.

I haven't only not gotten any interest at all, I have gotten bupkis, which even if you don't know Yiddish, you can easily translate.

So today, I trudge on, why, I don't really know, but on the other hand, if I don't continue doing what I am doing, then I will have no chance at getting anything.

You have to be in it to win it, as they say, but sometimes, I do feel so small being in something that I have no chance to win.

I am like a Little League team going after the New York Yankees.

The playing field is supposedly level, but how can a team of kids compete against an adult team full of stars?

I often feel like that, but who are the stars that I am competing against?

I just don't know, but that is where Linked In comes in, and for me at least, it hasn't helped me on iota.

Hiring managers insist that you have your profile there, but to me, Linked In the the biggest farce since New Coke.

I don't know who it works for, but it doesn't work for me.

That being said, now I am stuck without a job and financial insecurity.

The former I could take, to a certain degree; the latter, well, it simply does not compute.

Let's see what happens this week, but I expect the same old same old.

Local and national figures for unemployment will be a historically low levels, and I will be sitting in front of my computer, looking for work, with my ego and belief in my ability at historically low levels too.

And that isn't good.

Classic Rant #1,204 (May 9, 2014): Six Mothers

First off, today is the 44th anniversary of my bar mitzvah.

It doesn't seem possible, but all the way back in 1970, I became a man, at least by the laws of the Jewish religion.

It seems like a lifetime ago, and in fact, it was.

Next, this weekend is Mother's Day, the second holiest day of the year next to Father's Day, of course.

My family plans a big celebration. We are having a load of family over to our house, and we will be having a Chinese food feast. It should be fun.

Three of the mothers I am going to tell you about will be there, and are alive and well.

Three, sadly, won't be there, but they will certainly be there in spirit and remembered for who they were and the influence that they had on me and the rest of our family.

And in describing each one of these women, I am talking about the wonder of motherhood, and how, let's face it, if it weren't for moms, none of us would be here, figuratively, literally, or otherwise.

My maternal grandmother was a great woman who was a constant presence in my life until the day she died. Even though we lived many miles away--especially when we moved to Long Island--my grandmother was always there for me, always around, and if she taught me one thing, it was to stand up for your rights, to open up your mouth when necessary, and to speak your mind.

She loved to dance, but had a literally great fall, and could not dance again. My grandfather passed away, and she did not have a companion. But that never stopped her. She would hobble, barely be able to walk, but she seemed to live for my sister and I. Even in her dying days, we seemed to come first.

She was really a great grandmother, and I miss my Grandma Betty to this day.

My paternal grandmother brought the "old world" into my life. She wasn't born in this country, and she came here under interesting circumstances. One could say that she lived a hard life from the day she was born. As a child, she somehow was raised in a monastery, where they tried to convert her away from Judaism. She refused, because she knew what she was.

When she was older, she came to America, somehow met up with my grandfather, and they settled down together to live a new life in America, start their own business, and raise a family. But she never settled down, really. My grandfather, from what I understand, could be a brute in many ways, and my grandmother often suffered at his hands. But to me, as a grandmother, she always had a smile that would light up a room. No matter what was bothering her, when my sister and I came into the room, nothing else seemed to matter.

She made us No. 1, and to her dying days, she never forgot that she was our grandmother. And yes, I miss my Grandma Harriet, too.

My mom is the perfect mother and grandmother. I don't know any other way to say it. She is always there for all of us. She never wavers, and while I don't always agree with everything my mother does, she is undoubtedly the best mother I could have. I am a lucky guy.

She is there in times of pain and stress, and in times of celebration. I look up to my mother for inspiration, and I get that and more from her, and from my father, for that matter. They are both now in their 80s, but they run around so much that they put people a third of their age to shame.

Where would I be without my mother? Nowhere, simply nowhere.

My sister has learned well from our mother. She is the proverbial "supermom,:" who is a wife, has a career, and watches over her three sons like a hawk. I can tell you that from my standpoint, she can make you crazy, but she absolutely adores her children, sometimes to a fault.

I think my sister learned well from not only my mother, but our grandmothers, too. She worries about her brood, and will stand up for them when necessary. She will also take a stand when necessary, too, and that sometimes irks us, but let me tell you, she generally knows what she is doing.

My wife is undoubtedly the most important woman in my life. She is my companion, friend, wife and the mother of my son. To me, she is most beautiful woman in the world, and when I tell her that, I really do mean it. I have to say that every day that we have been together, I consider myself the luckiest man alive. She is so important to me in so many ways that it is hard to quantify them all here. Like my sister, she is the proverbial "supermom," doing so many things at once that she seems to be in constant motion.

She dotes after our son, and will stand up for him when necessary, but she will also let him know how she feels when it is necessary. I am sure she gets a lot of her spunk from her own mother, who is deceased. But wherever it comes from, it is there, and I really love her for it, and I think in the end, my son appreciates it, too.

So there is my profile of the five major women in my life, both past, present and future. My wife's mom died right after we were married, and she had been ill for some time. I never really got to know her well, but from what little contact I did have with her, she seemed to be a real loving person and a great mom too.

That is one of my regrets, that I never really got to know her. But my son and I have gotten to know her through my wife and her two brothers, who always talk about her in a positive way, as they should. They loved their mom, and through the stories, my son and I do too.

Happy Mother's Day to all, and I will speak to you again on Monday.