@davina61, @Northern Star Girl, @tgirlamg, @Dances With Trees, thank you all. You're all so kind and generous.

Davina, I'm glad to know that others have had such supportive mothers. Sometimes I feel bad that I am so fortunate while others have little or no support from their families.

Danielle, you're absolutely right. I could never have imagined it would go this well, let alone anything "better."

Ashley, onward is the only way. Next step!

Anni, as long as they're tears of joy, I'm happy to bring them. My mother really is extraordinary, as is my wife. I can claim credit for choosing my wife, but I didn't choose my mother; that was sheer luck. For myself, I feel quite ordinary - and I'm happy with that.

My mom has continued to blow us away today. Yes, she slips more often than not and calls me by my old name and "he," but she corrects herself frequently and even gets it right the first time occasionally. She's fully on-board.

There was a discussion about clothing at dinner tonight and then some quick internet research by my wife and mother. It culminated in Mom bringing out a pair of her pants and suggesting I try them on. They fit me perfectly and really looked quite good on me. My wife kept saying, "This is really unbelievable." It truly was.

I haven't mentioned it here before, but this is the very week that, in 2004, my mother was here at my home because I had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and would be having surgery on July 12. During that surgery, my heart stopped, and they had to restart it. So many aspects of my life seem so absolutely surreal sometimes that I have often wondered: Is this real? Am I in a coma? Did I die? And I have to tell you, all of this is so... hard to fathom that I still have to ask those questions.

As ever, thank you for being part of this wild journey. What a gift.

My mum is 89, she does about an hour of gardening every morning. Knits blankets for premature babies and reads a lot, she called in my workshop the other day to see how I was doing (still drives!) as she went to the church to get her local newsletter. Yes she dead names me and says he sometimes . I will meet her and my aunty for food shopping later, I help reach stuff from top shelf and she sometimes gets discount from my phone/store app .

I love that, Davina. It sounds like she is living a wonderful life and that you and she remain very close. I don't know what more we could want from a relationship with our mothers.

Quote from: Pema on Yesterday at 10:47:11 PMAnni, as long as they're tears of joy

'Joy' is close, Pema, but more like tears of relief or the tears I shed when I dropped my daughter off for the first time at daycare. Few relationships are more complicated than the one I have with my mother and I would have never been able to say to her the things you said to your mother. Never. I'm not envious. As much as I loved my mother, the world is a better place because of mothers like yours. Hey, if you are in a coma, can you transmogrify me into a 25-year-old Linda Ronstadt?