Aside from all the wonderful songs, from "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" to "Jeepers, Creepers, Where'd ya get those peepers?" and "I love you, a bushel and a peck, you bet your pretty neck I do", I think the most important thing my mother taught me was always to love and forgive your own children, no matter how far they go, or how hard it is. We tested her severely on that, and she never failed. I always figured I could forgive my kids anything they did as long as it wasn't what I did. But at some level, it always is, pretty much, exactly what I did that I find hardest to deal with, and I wish I could find her and tell her, "Do you remember that day when I completely ignored you, paid no attention whatsoever to what was happening to you? I'm really, really sorry!" And I guess I must have been paying some attention because I sure remember it now, decades later.

This isn't to say she was perfect, or even close. I don't think there has been a perfect parent, since Adam and Eve. I just have learned how much harder parenting is than it looked before I had to do it, and I've let her off the hook, I think.