STAFF PERSPECTIVE: How my mom used to check to see if she was a widow

I know I'm early, but whenever I think of Mother's Day I think of my mom as a 23-year-old.

She met my dad on a blind date in 1951 and, several weeks later, they married.

I don't know if they would have been in such a rush if he hadn't been in the Marine Corps and slated to ship out to Korea. With time ticking by they shared a small apartment in Oceanside, Calif., with some other officers and enjoyed the beach and each other for a month before dad, a rifle platoon lieutenant, boarded a big, gray transport and sailed to the Orient.

About the time he left, mom discovered she was pregnant and moved back with her parents.

Imagine being pregnant and married to a Marine officer in combat who you have known for less than 10 weeks.

And to top it off, mom didn't have a lot of faith that the Marine Corps would remember her or that dad was newly married. She figured that if anything happened to him they would forget to tell her.

In 1951-1952 dad was busy, eventually inheriting a weapons company on the line.

Anyway, mom, like I said, not sure the Marines would remember her, took it upon herself to read the newspaper each morning, going over the list of dead, wounded and missing, to see if her husband's name appeared.

Day after day, week after week, she would dutifully check the newspaper each day to see if she had become a widow.

The bottom line: Dad made it back and my parents were married for 53 years before he died a couple years ago at the age of 81.

And mom, who just turned 80, still plugs along, going to lunch with friends and volunteering once a week with the local police department, where she files accident reports.

Sometimes she drives me crazy, as mom's often can, but when that happens I try to imagine what it must have been like for her as a pregnant 23-year-old, living at home, not sure if her husband was alive or dead, and I'm constantly amazed at how she stood up to the stress and strain.

I guess they don't call them "The Greatest Generation" for nothing.

So, to my mom, and all the moms who today sit and wait patiently for a loved one to come home safely from harms way ... Happy Mother's Days!