Member-only story
My Mom Had Twenty Hearts
A Son Remembers
In the fall of 1989, I had relocated from Los Angeles back to my home town of Rochester, New York. A few months before, I had accomplished a lifelong dream: I met and interviewed Bewitched TV icon Elizabeth Montgomery. Doing so served as early research for what would later become my first book, The Bewitched Book, which I ultimately would complete upon my return to Rochester, my parents’ home, where I spent my late teens and early twenties.
Upon this return to Rochester, I had absolutely nothing. And when I say, “nothing,” I mean, “nothing.” Not a stick of furniture or a dime or a car or “nothing.” I was forced to sell all of my furniture and belongings to pay my rent and eat, and my plan was to complete my book and spend time with my then aging parents.
And I would do that, as fully, and with as much awareness and appreciation of my mother and father as I could. Returning to Rochester and my parents allowed me the opportunity to right some wrongs. I was always a good son but at times I was selfish, overly-cocky and did not always show the respect my parents deserve — the kind of respect that every tremendous parent deserves. And my parents were tremendous.
In retrospect, being with them again, relatively late in the game, was a blessing.
