my mom and dad met at the peppermint lounge in tyngsboro massachusetts*. my mom was sitting at a table of girlfriends. my dad had come with a friend from the FAA on a mission to pick up some girls. my dad zeroed in on their table and in his own words "i was going to ask every girl to dance until one said yes". my mom was the second girl he asked**. they danced a few dances and made a date. and the rest is history, as my dad says.
i have my mom's engagement picture hanging in my apartment. i like it because it's her and i know it's her, but i don't remember her that way. ie: it doesn't make me cry. i have a snap from when she and christine came to visit last april. the weekend she told me she was sick again. she's smiling and waving at me and i can hardly bear to look at it.

*it might have been tewksbury now that i think about it, i'm not really sure.
** quote "goodthing that first one said no, glad i didn't get mixed up with her. she was a kook."