This is my mom in Long Beach, CA, the Fall of '46. My dad was a sailor and he had probably split for Texas at this point. One night, she found a sitter and went to a bar, where she met Paul, fell in love, married him, and they stayed together for life.

One night Paul called me, we were all living in Oakland, CA at the time, and he asked me to come over and get my mom stoned. I said sure, we had never done this before, so I grabbed my big bong pipe, some bud, and drove over.

Paul was on a machine for his lungs, shooting vodka into them to get high. He knew his time was near and he had opened up.

I showed my mom how to take a big bong hit and hold it in. We did a couple of those, Paul squirted vodka, their eyes lit up, and they started talking.

I sat there in their kitchen and learned about the meeting in the bar. They both had different memories about some things and laughed about it.

The fact that I'm still here, writing about it, finding old photos that have magically remained in my hands, then enhancing and sharing them, humbles me.