This seems as good a time as any to once again mention that my mom once hit me with a bag of Fazio's Italian bread

My mom passed away one year ago today, so my choice here was either to write about how much we miss her and how wonderful she was, or to bring up the time she smacked me with a baked good.

I'm going with the latter.

For the record, though, we do miss her and she was wonderful. One of the best human beings I ever knew. You can't say enough about her.

But even Kathryn Tennant had her breaking point.

This is a story I relayed at her memorial service, but I love it so much I'll recap it here, too.

I'm guessing it was maybe 1978 or '79. That would have made me about 9 or 10, and my nephew Mark maybe 3 or 4.

My mom would often watch Mark while his mom, Mary, went off to work, so he was around a lot and, as I've often said, was more like a little brother to me than a nephew.

It was late afternoon and Mom was busying herself getting dinner ready, probably nearing the end of an exhausting day taking care of the two of us and trying to keep the house in some order.

I was doing something to irritate Mark. I don't know what, but it was enough that he kept crying and whining. We were in the living room, and Mom repeatedly yelled from the kitchen for me to stop it.

But apparently I didn't stop it. I kept right on doing whatever it was that was upsetting Mark, and he was making no secret of his displeasure.

Then, suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, Mom came storming out of the kitchen yelling at me to STOP IT. I looked up at her, and the next thing I knew, she had taken a full swing at me with a bag of Fazio's Italian bread. I don't know where it hit me, but the bag made solid contact and burst open, sending slices of bread flying around the living room.

I was stunned. Mom never hit me. It didn't hurt, but it was so out of the ordinary and so scary that I started crying. That, in turn, started Mark crying.

So there we were crying, and there was Mom, flustered and tired and on her hands and knees, crawling around the living room picking up pieces of far-flung bread.

In retrospect, it's one of the funniest things I have ever seen, though I obviously couldn't appreciate it at the time.

What I wouldn't give for some video evidence of that moment.

Boy, do I miss her.