For several reasons, I have been thinking of my mother recently.
Genevieve Ann Likins Hunt lived from July 18, 1922 through April 18, 2004. Thus she was exactly 81-3/4 years of age on the day she died. 
A striking beauty in her youth, my mother developed schizoaffective disorder in her early-to-mid 20s. This complex condition radically altered my mother’s life, but could not erase or fundamentally alter her identity. My mother’s most distinctive trait, her emotional and interpersonal sensitivity, shone through during even the darkest stages of her illness, which included recurring periods of major depression and brief episodes of psychotic breakdown.
This is an experimental post, which will be expanded over time.
I believe I am safe in saying that no one among her friends, in considering who she was, would have given thought for a moment to her mental illness. Rather, it was her sensitivity, her genuineness and her generosity that captured her many friends, essentially all of whom remained friends for life, no matter when the friendships were formed.
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