Twenty-three years ago today I wished my mom a Happy Mother’s Day.

I was the sports editor of the Santa Maria Times, a position I had held since February.

I wasn’t going to take the position because my mom was in a fight with cancer. But, she said she would be all right and I needed to go be on my own.

I wasn’t so sure she was feeling that good, but she was very convincing.

I talked to my sister on that Mother’s Day and she told me I needed to come home. I told her that wasn’t going to happen because I had just talked to mom and she said she was feeling fine.

So, my sister called in reinforcements.

That night I received a phone call from my aunt saying I needed to come home to San Diego.

As much as she put up a front for me during that Mother’s Day call, cancer got the best of my mom during the months I was gone and my aunt said it would only be days.

When I made it to the hospital, my aunt