Yesterday would have been my mom’s 90th birthday.

Two memories came to me.

The period of time she sat beside my bed and read Huckleberry Finn out loud, with expression, before I went to sleep.

And the time she found a short story I had started in the fourth grade (not a school project, just something I had wanted to do). It was about an invasion of earth from Jupiter. They were giants, of course, because, you know, Jupiter is so large. I wrote about four pages before I grew tired of the idea. I must have left them on my desk.

The next day, when I got home from school, my mom went on and on about how exciting a story it was, and how she looked and looked for the rest of the pages.

She seemed really disappointed that there was no more to be read.

No, I did not finish the story.

But, she planted something in me that day.

And, I still miss her.

But, I will see her again.