this reminds me of my Mom.

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Mom was our family stock-picker (and, the very axis upon which our collective world revolved). sure enough, we owned Apple stock going back to it’s IPO. we also owned Hanes and Blockbuster, to name others – all of them making sense, in one form or another, to Mom.

when I was thinking about building a Tandy or Commodore PC over the summer of 1982 for college (I tended to obsess over neat papers and the like), Mom classically, if not presciently, said to me:

“sell some stock your Grandad left you and buy an Apple. It makes more sense, honey”.

Mom did some research, made calls and decided I needed an Apple Lisa (they were not even on the market before July of 1982) and then abruptly changed her mind for the Apple II Plus – mostly because the of the new Apple Dot Matrix Printer ($700). and, we had an early release of Apple Pie aka AppleWorks straight from Robert Lissner, himself. this set me back over ten thousand dollars. but, I worked that machine hard. I wrote hundreds of papers for fraternity brothers, lacrosse mates and other partners (it was easier than the moving company and bouncing at TJ’s Pub. before Mom left us in 1985 I had already upgraded to a “true” Macintosh. I wrote a farewell letter to Mom on it, and a poem for her funeral, I Bid You Adieu.

she never had the chance to read the letter, it’s unopened to this very day (although a part of it was made into a poem and read aloud at her funeral, attended by hundreds).

however, with every Apple I buy and use for family, business and charity (and, there have been hundreds), I think of Mom, her influence, and vision.

peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

brian patrick cork