It’s peony time in my garden every Mother’s Day. I prefer my flowers alive and in dirt, thank you very much!

I hope my mother had friends who told her what a good mother she was. She and her sister were terribly close, and so I suspect she was my mother’s best listener. Not only was my mother also an excellent, empathetic listener, she was a prolific sharer. Once, when I flew in for a visit, I left her outside baggage claim while I went inside, to the bathroom, and in that five to seven minu...