It is always strange for me to celebrate Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is more with my wife as the mother of my child than my actual mother, who has been dead for more than 40 years. My wife’s mom is still here, so the day usually starts with brunch.

My mom was somewhat of a hellraiser in her youth I suspect from pictures I have seen and letters I have read. She was a very religious woman as I remember. She did a lot of praying for  me during my formative years. One of the biggest disappointments for her was that my older brother didn’t become a priest. She played second fiddle to my dad for several years, but there was never a doubt who ran the show. She did.

In her younger days my mom hung around bi-plane pilots, and other adventurous characters. She showed her strength when my dad fell into ill health late in life. I had never seen my mother drive a car, but all of a sudden she was driving dad all over the place. She got a job at College of Southern Idaho when it first opened and worked there until her death.  She was always proud that my brother and I were the first members of our immediate family to graduate from college. One of my biggest battles with her was when I decided to bypass college, a decision I quickly changed.

So Sunday morning, I will raise my orange juice in a toast to Pauline Van Kueren Schneider, I think she would be proud of the way my brother, Tony, and I turned out. Happy Mother’s Day mom.