C.S.
When my father died at 39 without a will my mom (at 33) had 3 kids, (15, 13, 13), a 10th grade education and a job at Sears selling men's suits. She went to business school, became a bookkeeper, held on to the house until she could sell it without losing most of her assets to probate, and always made each of us feel important. She didn't remarry until we were grown. Now that I'm a widow with a 13 year old who gets no benefits for my child, has no help or local support and a more-than-full-time job, my respect for her grows exponentially every day. I think she's stronger than Superman, has eyes in the back of her head, intuitively smells trouble, and retains her optimism and sense of fun. Wish I could be exactly like her.