Bluma Herman

i can't let the passing of bluma herman go uncommented on. she was a wonderful mother-in-law, always supportive, always directly honest, and i will miss her dearly.

it is unfortunate that my first wife and i had an unhappy split-up, involving our two boys, and were never really good friends after that. i believe she requested to be my friend a while back, and it took me years before i could agree to it, but finally did one day, hoping the whole thing would be over. but upon her mother's death, i went to offer my condolences, and i couldn't; she'd unfriended me. to her, maybe, it still isn't over.

but as for mom, i have nothing bad to say. i saw her at the older son's wedding back in may, and it was perhaps her finest hour. the oldest son was one of her favorite grandchildren, if not the first, and it was no small deal for her to fly, at the age of 90, from chicago to portland with her husband, who is also 90 and who survives. she may have been declining even then, but she was at her best, and that's how i'd like to remember her. she was nice to us - me, my young son, my daughter who knew her as a step-grandmother, and my daughter's family.

RIP bluma herman