I loved sitting on my mother's lap. Mom had a great lap. It was a nice place for a little boy. It was warm and soft, and safe. I spent a lot of time just sitting with her. When I was sad or cold; when I wanted to visit.

I think of all the people over the years that sat on Mom's lap: my brothers, my sister, our friends, our children, Mom's students.

Mom always wanted to comfort people, to make them feel better.

Once, I got into a fight with Paul Carmichael. I was a small kid, so my friend Norman jumped in, and they had a battle. When it was over, they were both crying. I remember Mom had Paul on one knee, Norman on the other. She didn't ask what happened. She just held them.

She saw things from the other person's point of view.

In grade 1, a classmate stole my bike. We found out pretty quickly who'd done it and Mom and Dad took me to his house. His father said he'd tan the boy's rear end. I remember feeling pretty good about that. I didn't like the guy. But Mom was sad. She figured the boy had probably been hit a few times too many. She was likely right about that.

I was looking in Mom's cupboard. I saw all these fancy soaps in a box, unused. It made me cry. Mom liked getting nice things but she took a long time to use them. She was always saving for the right occasion. But I hate to think she was denying herself things.

She seldom denied her children anything. We were valued and encouraged, given lots of opportunity; hockey, tennis, badminton, swimming, piano, soccer, baseball, elocution, drama, whatever we wanted.

Over the years, Andrea, Greg, Wade and I brought a lot of friends to the house. They became my parents' friends as well. Fern and Ed have been a second mother and father to a lot of people. Many of them are here today.

One of the hardest things for me is thinking about Dad. My parents always talked, and they're both such smart and interesting people. They'd show up at a party and outshine every other couple in the room: so intelligent, so vital, so cool. It's difficult to think of one without the other. Mom's death leaves a hole in all our lives. But it's biggest for Dad. Dad, I'm so proud of the way you cared for Mom in the past couple of years. You must have really loved her.

We all did.

Thanks for coming today.