The other day I was talkin’ with my mother (Gail Bunker, in case you’ve never met her) via Jabber, and she mentioned that she was just about done updating her web site… she casually mentioned that Notepad was pretty limited.

“Notepad? Are you telling me you are ‘coding’ your web pages in HTML?” I asked.

“Yeah. Can’t seem to allocate enough budget to buy something like FrontPage, and I can’t wait for the technical people to get around to it, so I just thought that I would edit the pages myself,” she replied. (You can see her Celebrity Concert Series web site).

I’m impressed. I’ll admit that I was pretty stunned when I got email from my eighty year old Grandmother, but this … this is really worth braggin’ about to all my geek friends.

My mother has been an incredible mother to her herd of offspring, and she raised us all quite well— none of my siblings have spent any time in jail and we are below the national average in therapy bills, and isn’t that the only true measure of success?

Here’s another story that gives you some insight into her character…

The background… My mother and I enjoy swappin’ good music and good books, but I generally come up with subject matter that is more on the fringe. One year, I bought her a book containing a collection of poetry from Rumi. She returned the favor with a book of poetry from Pablo Neruda. This last year (or was it the year before), I got her one of the books written by the Dalai Lama. She has become quite an avid fan, and has purchased quite a few of his other works.

Early this year, she was flying up to visit her grandkids in the Pacific Northwest, and after boarding a small prop plane in her hometown of St. George, Utah, she opened up her latest Dalai Lama book and began reading when the man next to her interrupted her.

“Have you enjoyed your stay here in Utah?” he asked.

“Oh, I live here. I’m just traveling to Oregon to visit my kids.” she replied.

“Excuse me, I assumed that you didn’t live here since most of the population in this town are Mormon.”

“Oh, but I am an active Mormon,” she said. (If you know anything about the religion, she is a Stake Relief Society president).

“I’m really sorry, I assumed that a Mormon would not be reading a book by the Dalai Lama.”

“Actually, I find his teachings to go quite well with my beliefs, and really like his message.” Heh, way to go, Mom. Now granted, the Dalai Lama has stated things like, “My religion is simple, my religion is kindness,” and in my opinion, the world’s religion are far more similar than they are different. But my mother has passed her tolerance and perspective to her children, and I really appreciate that.

Some day, I will write and maybe even present a proper eulogy… but these two stories will do for now. Besides, every time I think of them, I just have to smile.