Mitch Albom

May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide

Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction

Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women

Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces

Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad

Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

'Garbage man' in cells could extend life

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage

Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study

Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell

Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed

Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism

Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Top Muslim cleric boycotts inter-faith dialogue conference attended by 'Jews'

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on

Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

Hagel, on maiden Middle East visit, arrives in Israel bearing gifts and promises

US man departing country arrested on terror charges

Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel

Jewish World Review May 9, 2005 / 30 Nisan, 5765

A Mother's story

By Mitch Albom

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | She was born in the Depression and she was raised in Brooklyn, in a small apartment above a drugstore named Berg's. Her father worked in a post office. Her mother stuffed $3 a week in an envelope for food money. They had no phone. They had no car. She and her school friends would hang out on the fire escapes.

"You're going to be a doctor," her father told her, and she believed him, because she was smart and she adored him and she believed anything he said. She didn't believe she was pretty, because she had kinky hair, parted in the middle, and her clothes were hand-me-downs from relatives, wool suits and plaid pants and things no young girl would want to wear.

One night, when she was a teenager, she went to a basement party. It was truly a basement, exposed pipes and a big boiler and junk furniture that some boys had collected from the trash. One of the boys wore a wet pompadour and played the clarinet, trying to impress her. She told herself, "He's not my type." Besides, she was going to be a doctor, like her father said.

Then one Saturday, when she was 15, the phone rang — they had one now — and a relative told her that her father had been plunging a sink, had turned to her mother and had dropped dead of a heart attack.

Her childhood was over.

Her motherhood began.

At first she was a mother to her younger brother, with whom she shared a room until her wedding. Then she was a mother to her own mother, who became depressed and needed shock treatments to deal with her grief.

In time, she married the boy with the clarinet — on Christmas Eve, in a Lower East Side restaurant — and after five years of sharing that same apartment with her mother, brother and whatever other relatives were around, they finally got their own place and she became mother to her own children, three in four years.

The doctor dream was over.

"Oh, I had my hands full," she would say. "I couldn't think about what I missed out on."

Instead, like many women of her generation, she concentrated on what she had: a family. She was a strong matriarch, vocal in her love and her discipline. She kissed. She lectured. She inspired with her tenacity. Once, when her son was denied a book by a librarian who felt it was too difficult, she dragged the boy back and scolded the woman, saying, "Don't ever keep my child from trying!"

She made her kids study. She made them breakfast, dinner and Halloween costumes. She was the one they woke at 3 a.m. after a bad dream. She was the one who said, "If you have one good friend in life, count yourself lucky."

She became an interior designer, a good one, but deep down, she had a sense that life could have been more than just wallpaper and carpools and selling pretzels at the high school football games. But she put those deferred dreams into her children and she encouraged them to fly.

In time, they did. One moved far away. Two moved overseas. She laments having encouraged them sometimes, because she's lonelier than she deserves to be. She has white hair now, and glasses, and she seems to be getting shorter. Some of her old argumentative fire has dissolved into quieter desires: to visit her grandchildren, to get a hug, to watch black-and-white movies on TV.

She still gives advice. She still tells her family to button their coats and take their vitamins. She still tells doctors as much as they tell her, perhaps because, deep down, she can hear her father's encouragement, much as her children can hear hers.

She is like millions of mothers on this Mother's Day, and, of course, she is one in a million to someone. In 20 years of penning this column, I have written about her husband, her youngest son, her daughter, even her uncles. But for some reason, I have never really written about her. And, true to form, she never once asked, "When do you tell my story?"

Today, Mom.

And every day of my life.

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