The night before my father's memorial service, my sister informed me that my mother had been diagnosed with ALS.

Prior to this diagnosis we had been told that her increasing difficulty speaking was due to a series of minor strokes.

A visit on 12/1 to The Stanford University School of Medicine, Neurology Department confirmed that my mom had not suffered any strokes and that most likely the diagnosis of ALS was correct.

Further tests await, and such meager treatments as are available, and no doubt tears and pain and love and death.

But, hey, that's life, isn't it?