Three hilarious things my mom did that make me miss her

That's my mom with Jared and me at Jared's graduation party, 2017.

My mother was one of the sweetest, funniest, most genuine people you would ever want to meet. Everyone loved her, from her kids and grandkids to the many people for whom she sewed during her 57 years living in Wickliffe.

She also had a tendency to make the occasional verbal gaffe, which only served to make us love her that much more.

This is just off the top of my head:

• One time she was introduced to a guy named Stan Barwidi. Upon being told his name, Mom very politely said, "Well hello, Stanbar!" She apparently thought his name was "Stanbar Widi." (There was also the time she mixed up another guy's name, but I don't know whether his real name was Al Filidoro and she called him "Phil Alodora" or the other way around. Either way, it was a classic Mom move.)
  
  
• In the same vein, she once referred to the Paul Simon song "Kodachrome" as "Polaroid." Close. Sort of.
  
  
• Then there was the occasion when my sister Judi had a friend, Larry Mathay, come to our house. Larry arrived at our front door, at which point our dog Trixie started barking loudly. Coming into the living room to let him in – probably while cooking dinner and trying to take care of toddler me – Mom tried to diffuse the noisy chaos by shouting, "Larry, shut up! Trixie, sit down!" As you might suspect, she meant it the other way around.

That's not to mention the time she whacked me in the head with a loaf of Italian bread when I wouldn't stop teasing my little nephew Mark, or when she couldn't understand a friend's thick Southern accent and tried repeatedly (and hilariously) to decipher what the woman was saying.

Oh Mom, I wish you were still around.