2022 may be the last year of unambiguously human prose.
Here’s something I wrote, shared to mark the 15th year of my Mom’s passing. Little ChatGPT summaries have been interspersed for the algorithmically-dependent. Suffice it to say the summaries don’t have the color of the original.
My mom passed away on this day in 2008. I missed making it home in time from a Pittsburgh Thanksgiving visit that year. I marked the occasion with this tribute. Love you mom!
— — — —
My Dad is 90 years old. But at 55, in full “mid-life crisis” he prepared us for his imminent departure. He was sure he was on his last leg — a kind of Russian Jewish fatalism. He was off in his calculations. And today we are here for my Mom.
ChatGPT summary:
Dad prepared us for his departure at 55, but is now 90 and Mom is gone.
— —
I never imagined my Mom passing away. Dad was so insistent it would be him. And my mom was such a positive force, I couldn’t imagine anything stopping her in her tracks. The words they wrote on her certificate, “Failure to thrive” were incomprehensible. Because she thrived and thrived and thrived.
ChatGPT summary:
Mom’s cause of death, “failure to thrive,” is confusing because she had always thrived.
— —
Mom was a Secretary when being in the Secretarial pool was cool. She was never an “administrative assistant.” She was a “Secretary.” To her, that meant the heart and soul of an organization. Few knew that Ruth *ran* the Great Neck School District for the 10 years she worked for the Superintendant of Schools.
ChatGPT summary:
Mom, a skilled Secretary, ran the school district for 10 years while working for the Superintendant.
— —
There was a super-hero quality to the way she did this, at least in my mind. She was super-stylish like those woman on “Mad Men”. She was super-efficient (she worked for “Efficiency experts” at Shell oil and the State Department in previous jobs”). And she wrote super-humanly fast in a strange language she referred to as “Gregg Shorthand.” People marvel at the mess I make when taking notes. My brother Alan can type up to 95 words per minute. Long after Alzheimer’s set in, my mom could write anything I threw at her in Shorthand.
ChatGPT summary:
Mom had a “super-hero” quality because of her style, efficiency, and fast writing in Gregg Shorthand, even with Alzheimer’s.
— —
What was most super about my mom was her loyalty and dedication to the men she worked for. But they had nothing on my Dad. She claimed that everything she learned, she learned “by Osmosis” from David when he was studying at NYU. She typed and edited my Dad’s way into the sabbatical we had in Berkeley and the Fullbright we had in Italy. She loved the way he looked in uniform, — Army and Tennis. We have four years worth of (clean/sordid) love letters between Mom in NY and my dad in Hawaii to attest to that). She loved the Kirk Douglas dimple in his chin, his barrel chest, and perhaps his legs most of all. The affection she lavished on his legs are probably why he is still with us today. And yes, while he drove her crazy (like we all seem to do our wives) he was all she needed in life.
ChatGPT summary:
Mom’s love for Dad, including his legs, may have contributed to his longevity and he was all she needed in life despite any issues.
— — -
Except for her kids. Despite how they might have experienced her, I can’t tell you how much she raved about my sister and brother. She thought my sister was “amazing.” “That sister of yours can do anything!” It didn’t matter if she was bartending or painting leather or doing the thousands of creative things she’s done for the Mayor of San Francisco. (She had some issues with tattooing until Bryna stopped after a couple of grapefruits and friends heels). And while they had colorful “disagreements,” my sister was only golden when my mom talked about her.
ChatGPT summary:
Mom admired her daughter’s creative pursuits and work for the Mayor of San Francisco.
— — -
Alan was born with the temperament that rocks a crib across the room. And even though I have a fuzzy memory of mom breaking a violin on his head, he is probably most like her in his ability to take care of business efficiently large and small. He managed their house, their finances, their lives when they found it too much to do. But he also has the passion to remember like my mom had as keeper of the family tree and author of letters to Warhaftigs and Zamchicks near and far — Alan remembers the Great Neck that was, the great ocean liners, and almost every detail of our childhood that I can’t recall. She believed that he “was a powerhouse” who could do anything he put his mind to.
ChatGPT summary:
Alan is like Mom in his efficiency and passion for family history, but also has a big temper. Mom believed he could do anything.
— — —
There are a few things I never told my mom when she was with us. Very few things since I could pretty much tell her everything:
Mom, I blew up your pencil sharpener with a firecracker. I know it was stupid.
I’m sorry I used charcoal to draw Sistene Chapel images all over the walls in my room.
Mom. I wasn’t really happy walking up Mt. Vesuvias with you while Dad, Bryna and Alan ran on ahead. And later, I was really kind-of freaked out when you told me, one difficult year of adolescence, that I was the only delight in your life at the time.
Mom, I never liked liver even though you made us eat it every week.
ChatGPT summary:
The writer never told Mom about various mischievous actions and not liking liver.
— —
A couple of things I’ll always remember in your voice…
“You can do anything you put your mind to!” and “If you don’t toot your own horn, nobody will toot it for you!” And I have been busy doing everything I put my mind to ever since. And I toot and toot and toot…well…ad nauseum.
You’d call us all down when it was time for dinner. Dad would be up in
his ivory tower in the attic surrounded by his books. At first you’d scream “Daaaaaaa” and later, when that proved insufficient, you got a shofar and we would hear “Bru-uuur!”
Mom, you loved your “kid-brothers” and your “kid-sister”. You never tired of saying “what a pain-in-the-neck” Dotty was for stealing your clothes.
ChatGPT summary:
The writer will always remember Mom’s advice and love for her siblings, including one who stole her clothes.
— — —
The first time I cried the week she died was when I told my dad (for the fifth time) what had happened. He frowned and said “Oh, no, is that what happened, I thought she was asleep”. We then walked around to her side of the room and I listened as he said the sweetest, most loving things to her. The second time I cried was when a teary nurse at the Actor’s Home told me she had never seen another couple like them. The way my Dad kissed her on the forehead…the way they sat together on the couch…the way they walked together holding hands, to and from their room each day.
ChatGPT summary:
The writer cried when Dad, repeatedly didn’t realize Mom had died and when a nurse described their relationship.
— — — -
This is what I will always remember. The love the two of them brought into the world.
To learn more about the tech that created this image, visit: https://www.zamchickgroup.com/WordsEye
