I've been thinking a lot lately about the idea of going "home." I wrote about it in today's print column.
Part of it was because I recently spent a day in a couple of towns from my youth, Oxford, Pa., where I grew up, and North East, Md., where my dad operated the first of his two sub shop/soda fountains.
The other part was because we spent a lot of time the past week detailing the return of mega-star Tina Fey to the place where she got her start - the Upper Darby Summer Stage.
Saturday night Fey, the star of 'Saturday Night Live' and '30 Rock,' was back in Upper Darby raising money for Summer Stage. Here's a look at what was a very special night, and a slideshow of images of homegirl Fey back on stage in Upper Darby.
But it was while I was writing my Monday print column that I discovered something that jolted me.
I realized that today is my mother's birthday.
And not just any birthday. My mother would have turned 100 today.
We lost her in 2003.
My mother and father, as well as their extended families, all the brothers and sisters, cousins and others, were cut from a different cloth.
They survived both the Great Depression and World War II.
They worked hard - and played even harder. I always wonder how they were able to get up and start another day after some of the "festivities" from the night before, but they never missed a beat.
We live in a different world today, one I am not convinced is better than the one I grew up in.
Maybe I'm just getting old myself.
I think society is fundamentally different now. And not for the better.
Half the time we don't even acknowledge each other on the street. We're too busy checking our email on our phones. Or posting an update on Twitter.
My mother would never understand today's world.
She taught her son well.
Happy 100th, mom.
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