Like most women of her generation mom did not work outside the home. With five children to raise I'm sure she had days where going to work might have seemed like a holiday compared to the mountains of laundry to do, meals to cook and a house to keep clean! Once we five children were older and self-sufficient and, being the friendly people person that she was, mom wanted to work outside the home.

We are so pleased to have our aunt do a guest post this week about our mom. However, before you dive in to her post, we thought a little background would be helpful: “Auntie Lana” as she is affectionately known in our family, is our dad’s youngest sister and, as you will discover, was more like a sister than a sister-in-law to mom.

Many years ago, over coffee, a friend indignantly described a radio program portraying older women as invisible. I was much younger at the time and the topic just didn't resonate with me. I tried very hard to pretend that I was interested but my mind was on other "younger" topics.

In case you were wondering, we also had a father. That handsome man is our father, Harvey, and although he was not a tall man, he was a giant in our eyes. As much as Mom influenced our upbringing with her easy going approach to parenting, ( ie. it was often worth your while to argue and push back), Dad was the steady, firm and sometimes maddeningly stubborn hand on the wheel. His was the ultimate and final authority. “Wait until your father gets home” was enough to bring absolute silence on our part. Although this blog is about Mom, we have just marked the 8th anniversary of Dad’s passing…

This age old question has finally been answered!! In our family it was our mom Betty!!