My mother is a very sweet woman if she likes you. Watch out if she doesn't. She has never been one to "suck it up" when it comes to pain. She is very melodramatic about everything in her life. She is definitely one who looks at the glass as half empty. However, she has a wicked sense of humor and she can gossip with the best of them! I love her dearly and I worry that I am so far away should something happen to her. I know it has been no picnic living with my dad all these years. She is in the hospital right now due to the tremendous arthritis that has crippled her so greatly. I live with many memories of my childhood that haunt me even to this day, but the memories of my mother are my most cherished. Although her gait is slow and the hair is gray, I will always think of her as that exotic Cuban lady with that splash of mystery. Tina