Anita De La O

 It was five years ago today that my mother, Anita De La O, passed away. She is with God now but her family misses her.

Both her and my father were old school. One day, I stopped by my mother's house. This was early 1999. She was selling the family home in Pico Rivera. The house was in escrow. She was painting the living room.

"Ma, what are you doing? The house is already sold! "

"I know but I want to leave the house in good condition for her and her family."

I looked at the paint, I don't remember the brand but it was an expensive paint.

"Ma, you don't need to use such expensive paint!! You should just use cheap paint. They'll probably repaint anyway.

She looked at me as if I were suggesting some sort of crime and said, "I would never do that!"

She wouldn't either, I knew it before I said it. I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed a paint brush.

Integrity, that generation, America's greatest generation, didn't have to brag about it, they just lived it.

I think about her, and my father, every day, especially when it comes to making moral decisions.

I miss you ma and I'll see you when I see you.