Mom, today is your birthday. Your memory is 93 years old. It’s been less than a year since you left us. That anniversary is also around the corner.

It’s been a rough year for me. I dearly miss our nearly daily calls and our visits with the girls in San Diego.

There were two things in life that you always said I was good at. One was cooking. You were a great cook and together we were gourmet partners in culinary crime, mostly through our often-epic restaurant-going. When you were still strong enough to visit Texas, you enjoyed the food I made us at the house and I would cook in your kitchen whenever I got the chance.

The other thing you said I was good at was parenting. You used to tell me that you loved seeing how much I love being a dad. Anyone who knows me knows that family is more important to me than anything else in the world. Joy never came easy to you, except when it came to the girls. You would really light up when we visited and you would tell me how impressed you were with “how well-behaved” they were.

I wish I could tell you about how Georgia stumbled academically during her early weeks at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. And how she’s now turned that all around and she’s back to where she needs to be with her grades. Every day when I pick her up, she tells me how much she loves the orchestra there. I’m so unbelievably proud of her and the person she is becoming.

I wish I could tell you how I almost fell out of my chair when Lila came home from shopping and showed us her new homecoming dress. It’s beautiful! I nearly picked up my phone to send a photo to the woman and family friend who took care of you. She would share (and also take delight in seeing) those photos. I wish I could tell you how hard she’s working on her big auditions coming up later this year.

I wish you could see how I’ve decorated my office with postcards you collected over your lifetime. How our walls are covered with freshly framed artwork from your collection (we love our Henry Millers!).

Mom, I just wish I could tell you happy birthday like I did ever since I was old enough to speak.