May 16th, 2002
I had five months to tell my mom everything,
Yet once she was in her grave,
I remembered a few more things to tell her.
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Dear Mom,
Thank you for:
Buying me funny things from the electronics catalog.
Sending me on a trip to Missouri by myself when I was 12.
For taking me to the hospital when I broke my arm, when I chipped my tooth and needed stitches in
my chip, when I fell into the fire and had burned my other arm.
For having lots of snack foods for my friends after school.
For taking me all kinds of places, near and far.
For getting me a reading tutor when I was a slow reader.
For writing an angry letter to my teacher, when she gave me detention.
For our many family road and camping trips.
I loved growing up in our family: trips, dinners, various family dramas, Summer camp. Thank you.
For the multitude of family picnics, of which I remember the Tidal Basin, Carter Rock and Brighton
Dam.
For letting me do weird things with our telephones.
For taking me to work with you and letting me play with the office machines.
For letting me play the Beatles and other rock music full volume on the family stereo.
For actually going with me to rock concerts.
For accepting all my friends, regards if they were a good or a bad influence on me.
For practically never getting real mad at me, even the time I unplugged the freezer and forgot to
plug it back in and we lost hundreds of dollars of meat you bought.
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When Nancy, Mark and John left for college, and dad was gone, it was just you and me together for
five years. That was a hard period me, and must of been especially hard for you.
Thank you:
For accepting my dad as a friend so that us children would not have a wholly broken family...
For teaching me to drive
For letting me use your car a lot, including delivering papers in it, and going out with my friends.
For not kicking me out of the house when I started skipping school.
For not sending me to reform school when I got in trouble with the police.
Mom you had FAITH Ð You stuck beside me even when there was no reason to.
You believed in me. Thank you.
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In later years, when I was truly on my own,
Thank you:
For coming to visit me, regardless if I wanted you to or not
For our many trips together, remembering camping out on the Olympic Peninsula.
For telling me when I asked you about conversion to Judaism,
that you supported me in what ever brought me closer to God.
For all the checks you gave me for Christmas or Chanukah, birthdays, and for no reason at all, all
the way up to the end.
For loving my ex-girlfriend and my ex-wife.
For being Grandma Eleanor to my son.
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For taking home movies and thousands of photos.
For loaning or giving me money if I really needed it.
For loving me and calling me "her baby" even if I was an "accident."
For really showing me what the family and friends plan was really about.
For teaching me about compassion, not by preaching it, by solely by practicing it.
Thank you mother, I will miss you , keep you in my thoughts and love you forever,
your son, Paul Leslie.