3 months after her Fabulous 100th birthday, my Mom passed on-
she had a long life , filled with blessings -
on her last day she held her newest great-granddaughter,
I am sure she went to sleep happy.

A feisty red head with a hot temper who never finished high school
she would argue with my dad (an attorney) about his cases -
arguments that often ended with dad asking: "where did u go to law school?"

She was tough on me and my sister- we still make our beds
first thing every morning and cannot leave a dish in the sink,
housekeeping habits that we are now thankful for-
I was the unruly one and often got the back of her hand across the face
-if it was the hand with the rings, it hurt!

Ronni and I learned to duck out the way of that hand -
when she was driving - she swiped blindly at us fighting in the back of the car -

It took her 7 tries to pass her driving test -
with me cowering in the back when she practiced for the tests-

When she finally got her drivers license, she occasionally got me up before dawn -
saying only " get dressed and get in the car".
Off we went in her '53 dodge (a car that was more like a tank-)
in search of antiques on the back roads of Pennsylvania or upstate New York
with a picnic basket and a map.

She loved feathering the nest in Plainview. Our house was like a toy for her -
something she played with. A pink kitchen with white floors - like a doll house.

Mom was happy in her garden.
She grew prize-winning roses,
fruit trees and made jam from her raspberries.
In summer, she was out early every morning
picking the Japanese beetles off her roses -
neighborhood kids called her the Beetle lady-

When the tomatoes were ripe, she would march out to her vegetable patch
with a basket and a salt shaker in her pocket -
picking some for the basket - and some to eat immediately - with a dash of salt -

She tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to curb our teenaged antics- those were happy times for all of us.

A girly girl, she loved good jewelry and shoes (her dad owned 3 shoe stores).
When I was a slender teenager, she would take me to the garment district on Saturdays -
to buy sample dresses before they were in the stores.

Love and joy went into her crocheting and knitting projects-
making afghans for the family - she had fun with the colors,
coaxing my Dad into helping her arrange the squares before sewing them together -
They spread them out and mulled over whether it was right or not -
moving them this way and that way - each afghan was a work of love.

During the early years in FLorida, mom taught each of her grandchildren to swim -
Her love of the water was contagious. She knew immediately that Scot, her youngest grandchild -
was an exceptional athlete when he was just 3 years old -
Recognizing his extraordinary coordination - she encouraged him to play sports -
a recognition that led to a roomful of tennis trophies and a terrific sportsman/grandson.

She surprised me in her later years by volunteering to work at a Jazz festival -
and loved meeting people she might not have known otherwise.

A real New Yorker, she was scathingly sarcastic, full of opinions and wit.

And, always, was her love of dancing -
a favorite memory - the last time I saw her -
is her delight at being in the center of the circle of her family
as we danced around her on her 100th birthday.

It's hard to know she is gone. We fought alot but she is at the core of my being - my conscience, my heart.