My mom died eight years ago today. She’s still deeply missed by my siblings Ryan, Mary, and Shannon, and by me – and by her grandchildren Aaron, Dallas, Dalton, Austin, Thomas, Ashlyn, and Adrienne. And by her many other family members and friends.
This photo of her when she was, I think, 16 is among my favorites. 
Here’s what I wrote upon her death. A slice:
She was, of course, special to her friends and loved ones. But my mother will receive no footnote in any history book. No monuments will be built to her. No holidays will mark her life. No boulevards will bear her name. Two or three generations from now, no one will know or care that she existed.
Yet she was a good and great woman. Along with the countless other good and great people like her, she was vital to civilization. Remove the likes of my mother from our world and we become barbaric, brutal and dishonest. The capacity for civilized interactions outside of families disappears. Society collapses. My mom (along with my dad) contributed to civilization in the best way that anyone can hope: She taught her children to be civilized.
