A lot of people claim to be my No. 1 fan -- God bless them -- but my true No. 1 fan left this world last week. My mother quietly stopped breathing last Tuesday as she slept peacefully holding my hand.
She was the biggest fan of all of us -- Father me and my brothers John and Jim.
After reading the eulogy column I wrote for Father last year -- not to excess probably only about 4637 times -- Mother realized to her chagrin that she wouldnt be able to read the eulogy column Id be writing for her and started hinting that maybe I could rustle up a draft so she could take a peek.
But I couldnt do it until I had to.
The only thing Mother wanted to be sure my brothers and I included in her remembrances were her contributions to the Republican Party the New Canaan Republican Town Committee and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
She was a direct descendant of at least a dozen patriots who served the cause of the American Revolution and traced her lineage on both sides of her family to Puritan nonconformists who came to America in 1633 seeking religious freedom on a ship led by Pastor Thomas Hooker. Or as Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano would call them A dangerous right-wing extremist hate group.
Even back in the Puritan days Mothers female ancestors were brought up on charges for their heretical dressing styles (and then sassed the judge). During the Revolution one female ancestor Effie Ten Eyck Van Varick contributed to the rebel cause by donating lead for bullets from the curtain weights in her home in what was even then traitorous loyalist Manhattan.
Mothers deep-seated political activism saved me on more than one occasion.
At the 2004 Republican National Convention I was taking my parents to a lot of the parties in New York and at one of them Herman Cain walked up to me and told me he was a big fan even though I probably didnt know who he was.
Cain was the former president and CEO of Godfathers Pizza who was then running for the U.S. Senate from Georgia. I had seen him on Fox News Cavuto -- but I couldnt remember his name for the life of me.
Luckily for me Mother was standing next to me and she piped in I know who you are -- I donated to your campaign. Thank you Mommy!
Mother probably contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to various conservative outfits over the years -- all in her little $20 checks -- especially to any organization that claimed it was going to stop Hillary. In fact if they mentioned Hillary in their letter Mother sometimes made it $25.
My brothers and I always figured wed have no inheritance but there would be a lovely memorial to Oliver North somewhere.
Mother may have thought her most notable characteristic was her Republican activism but for the rest of us it was her constant unconditional love. She was a little love machine spreading warmth and joy wherever she went.
Every time shed see me even after just a few days absence shed hug me as if I had been lost in the Himalayan Mountains for the past 20 years.
On Mothers birthday last year I had a dinner party for her with Rush Limbaugh Conrad Black and my friends Peter and Angie.
Mother was always delighted to be with people talking about politics -- actually she told me that lately she was delighted to be around any conversations that didnt involve who had a doctors appointment or who had died that day.
So I let her stay up until 3 a.m. that night well past her bedtime. Mother was so happy that after I had her all tucked in and the lights out I heard her singing herself to sleep.
Even on the rare occasions when Id be cross with her shed completely forget about it and within 10 seconds would be telling me what a wonderful precious daughter I was. My brother Jimmy found out recently that shed even forgotten that he had caused her to miss Reagans first inauguration by getting in a car accident the night before we were leaving -- and she never should have forgotten that.
Everyone wanted my mother to be his mother. (The his in that sentence is grammatically correct and Mother would never let us forget it.) Im sure everyone thinks he has the perfect mother but we really did.
Since I was a little girl friends relatives and neighbors would bring their problems to Mother. She had a rare combination of being completely moral and completely nonjudgmental at the same time -- the exact opposite of liberals who have absolutely no morals and yet are ferociously judgmental.
You could tell Mother anything get good counsel and not end up feeling worse about yourself.
Several of Mothers New Canaan friends sent us notes last week calling her a gentle lady and remarking that she never had an unkind word for anyone.
As a family member I can assure you that -- much to our annoyance -- she really did never have an unkind word for anyone. I mean except Democrats but not anyone she knew.
Whenever the rest of us would be making fun of someone -- trust me always for good and sound reasons -- Mother would somehow manage to muster up a defense of the miscreant. Father would always smile and say Your mother defends everyone.
She was in fact such a gentle lady that I had to go to her doctors appointments and hospital visits with her and be her Mother Lion. If officious hospital administrators had told Mother to get off a gurney go outside in the pouring rain and stand on one foot for three hours before the doctor would see her shed thank them profusely and apologize for being such a bother.
She viewed her doctors appointments as social visits which is the other reason Id have to go with her to make sure we eventually got around to the business end of the appointment.
When she began her final decline last fall she had to go to her Connecticut doctor without me to find out what was wrong. This was the first time she didnt seem to be getting better after a chemo treatment.
So I had been worrying about her appointment all day but when I called her that night she immediately turned the subject to me and asked me how my book was going.
I insisted on knowing if she had seen the doctor and she perked up and brightly told me that oh yes she had seen him he had all my books in his office he was worried about Obama too and he has such beautiful children!
Before she launched into a spirited discussion of his childrens extracurricular activities and triumphs on the athletic field I had to ask her Mommy did the doctor happen to say anything about why youre feeling lousy?
It turned out of course that it was the ovarian cancer -- as well as the massive amounts of poison she had been receiving to kill the cancer over the past five years. That was the beginning of the end.
Now Ill never be able to introduce my Mother to friends and surprise them with her charming Southern accent.
And Ill never see my mothers beautiful face again at least not for the next several decades here on Earth. Ive been looking at her across the room in doctors offices over the past few years thinking to myself: There will come a point when you wont see that face again.
Her angelic face always looked like home to me. My whole life as soon as Id see my mothers face Id know I was safe whether I was a little girl lost in a department store or a big girl with a problem who needed her mother.
Thanks to the doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and mothers fighting Kentucky spirit we got to see that face much longer than anyone ever expected.
So now shes with Daddy and Jesus. Every single day since Daddy died last year Mother would say how much she missed him and gaze at his photo telling us what an amazing man he was and repeating his little expressions and jokes. Even though I miss her Im glad theyre together again.
I dont know about Jesus but I think Daddy was getting impatient. But Mommy was always running a little bit late.
Ann Coulter is a columnist and author of Guilty: Liberal Victim and Their Assault On America.
A lot of people claim to be my No. 1 fan -- God bless them -- but my true No. 1 fan left this world last week. My mother quietly stopped breathing last Tuesday as she slept peacefully holding my hand.
She was the biggest fan of all of us -- Father me and my brothers John and Jim.
After reading the eulogy column I wrote for Father last year -- not to excess probably only about 4637 times -- Mother realized to her chagrin that she wouldnt be able to read the eulogy column Id be writing for her and started hinting that maybe I could rustle up a draft so she could take a peek.
But I couldnt do it until I had to.
The only thing Mother wanted to be sure my brothers and I included in her remembrances were her contributions to the Republican Party the New Canaan Republican Town Committee and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
She was a direct descendant of at least a dozen patriots who served the cause of the American Revolution and traced her lineage on both sides of her family to Puritan nonconformists who came to America in 1633 seeking religious freedom on a ship led by Pastor Thomas Hooker. Or as Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano would call them A dangerous right-wing extremist hate group.
Even back in the Puritan days Mothers female ancestors were brought up on charges for their heretical dressing styles (and then sassed the judge). During the Revolution one female ancestor Effie Ten Eyck Van Varick contributed to the rebel cause by donating lead for bullets from the curtain weights in her home in what was even then traitorous loyalist Manhattan.
Mothers deep-seated political activism saved me on more than one occasion.
At the 2004 Republican National Convention I was taking my parents to a lot of the parties in New York and at one of them Herman Cain walked up to me and told me he was a big fan even though I probably didnt know who he was.
Cain was the former president and CEO of Godfathers Pizza who was then running for the U.S. Senate from Georgia. I had seen him on Fox News Cavuto -- but I couldnt remember his name for the life of me.
Luckily for me Mother was standing next to me and she piped in I know who you are -- I donated to your campaign. Thank you Mommy!
Mother probably contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to various conservative outfits over the years -- all in her little $20 checks -- especially to any organization that claimed it was going to stop Hillary. In fact if they mentioned Hillary in their letter Mother sometimes made it $25.
My brothers and I always figured wed have no inheritance but there would be a lovely memorial to Oliver North somewhere.
Mother may have thought her most notable characteristic was her Republican activism but for the rest of us it was her constant unconditional love. She was a little love machine spreading warmth and joy wherever she went.
Every time shed see me even after just a few days absence shed hug me as if I had been lost in the Himalayan Mountains for the past 20 years.
On Mothers birthday last year I had a dinner party for her with Rush Limbaugh Conrad Black and my friends Peter and Angie.
Mother was always delighted to be with people talking about politics -- actually she told me that lately she was delighted to be around any conversations that didnt involve who had a doctors appointment or who had died that day.
So I let her stay up until 3 a.m. that night well past her bedtime. Mother was so happy that after I had her all tucked in and the lights out I heard her singing herself to sleep.
Even on the rare occasions when Id be cross with her shed completely forget about it and within 10 seconds would be telling me what a wonderful precious daughter I was. My brother Jimmy found out recently that shed even forgotten that he had caused her to miss Reagans first inauguration by getting in a car accident the night before we were leaving -- and she never should have forgotten that.
Everyone wanted my mother to be his mother. (The his in that sentence is grammatically correct and Mother would never let us forget it.) Im sure everyone thinks he has the perfect mother but we really did.
Since I was a little girl friends relatives and neighbors would bring their problems to Mother. She had a rare combination of being completely moral and completely nonjudgmental at the same time -- the exact opposite of liberals who have absolutely no morals and yet are ferociously judgmental.
You could tell Mother anything get good counsel and not end up feeling worse about yourself.
Several of Mothers New Canaan friends sent us notes last week calling her a gentle lady and remarking that she never had an unkind word for anyone.
As a family member I can assure you that -- much to our annoyance -- she really did never have an unkind word for anyone. I mean except Democrats but not anyone she knew.
Whenever the rest of us would be making fun of someone -- trust me always for good and sound reasons -- Mother would somehow manage to muster up a defense of the miscreant. Father would always smile and say Your mother defends everyone.
She was in fact such a gentle lady that I had to go to her doctors appointments and hospital visits with her and be her Mother Lion. If officious hospital administrators had told Mother to get off a gurney go outside in the pouring rain and stand on one foot for three hours before the doctor would see her shed thank them profusely and apologize for being such a bother.
She viewed her doctors appointments as social visits which is the other reason Id have to go with her to make sure we eventually got around to the business end of the appointment.
When she began her final decline last fall she had to go to her Connecticut doctor without me to find out what was wrong. This was the first time she didnt seem to be getting better after a chemo treatment.
So I had been worrying about her appointment all day but when I called her that night she immediately turned the subject to me and asked me how my book was going.
I insisted on knowing if she had seen the doctor and she perked up and brightly told me that oh yes she had seen him he had all my books in his office he was worried about Obama too and he has such beautiful children!
Before she launched into a spirited discussion of his childrens extracurricular activities and triumphs on the athletic field I had to ask her Mommy did the doctor happen to say anything about why youre feeling lousy?
It turned out of course that it was the ovarian cancer -- as well as the massive amounts of poison she had been receiving to kill the cancer over the past five years. That was the beginning of the end.
Now Ill never be able to introduce my Mother to friends and surprise them with her charming Southern accent.
And Ill never see my mothers beautiful face again at least not for the next several decades here on Earth. Ive been looking at her across the room in doctors offices over the past few years thinking to myself: There will come a point when you wont see that face again.
Her angelic face always looked like home to me. My whole life as soon as Id see my mothers face Id know I was safe whether I was a little girl lost in a department store or a big girl with a problem who needed her mother.
Thanks to the doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and mothers fighting Kentucky spirit we got to see that face much longer than anyone ever expected.
So now shes with Daddy and Jesus. Every single day since Daddy died last year Mother would say how much she missed him and gaze at his photo telling us what an amazing man he was and repeating his little expressions and jokes. Even though I miss her Im glad theyre together again.
I dont know about Jesus but I think Daddy was getting impatient. But Mommy was always running a little bit late.
Ann Coulter is a columnist and author of Guilty: Liberal Victim and Their Assault On America.
