Thanks to all of you for your hugs and comforting thoughts and poems. I won't be on much for a while again, I am moving into my mother's home. It's a little more removed from street noise and will keep me closer to her for a while longer. Brothers and sisters and brother-in-law and nieces have arrived to help with the massive sorting and cleanup, and to help me move. It's amazing how much life can be packed into a mobile home, and how many little surprises we find. Mom was a pack rat when it came to family pictures and documents, though she did not write names on many photos. I'm trying to identify all that I can for the younger kids.
Mom wanted to be cremated and to have no funeral or memorial service. Her ashes will be interred with my dad at Fort Snelling in the spring, when the tears have dried and we don't need a jackhammer to get into the ground. The family will have a celebration then of both their lives.
Mom was an amazing woman, not in big ways but small. She raised thirteen children on little money, and loved every one of us for our special qualities. She and Dad were never demanding about what we did as a life work, except that they were proud we all have a good "work ethic." She loved Arizona and was good to everyone around her. We will all miss her dreadfully.
Thanks again for being there for me at this time.