August 17 2022 marks 20 years since my mother died.
My first inclination was to title this post 20 years since Mum’s passing. Even though I sometimes find myself using the word “passing” in this context, as an atheist, the word makes no sense to me here.
So, what’s changed in 20 years?
Everything and nothing.
And yes, I am aware that’s not a logically consistent statement…
Here’s a personal, random (that’s me in a nutshell) and partial list of things that have and have not changed:
- A little over a year after we lost Mum, Karen and I had a daughter, Heather, who we dearly wish had known my mother.
- The Kepler spacecraft has shown us that the universe is likely to be teeming with planets.
- I still think Mum was the kindest, wisest, sanest of us all.
- Some countries think war is still a fine idea. Sigh…
- Our species is beginning to understand that consuming resources at the current rate is problematic. Note that’s not the same as doing something about it…
- The world as a whole is still not taking climate change all that seriously.
- I changed employers a few times.
- The future of computing is still exciting and scary in equal measure. Technology is not value free.
- I still think of Mum most days. I still miss her, and that’s how it should be.