Disappearing Jewels: Missing Mothers
by Henry Hintermeister TEARS welled up in Jenny's eyes. The 12-year-old was holding the note she had found on the kitchen table. Her heart was still aching from the ridicule she had received from several girlfriends on the way home from school. She had been looking forward to telling her mother about it. Hurt, she grabbed an apple from the wire fruit basket and headed for the family room. Jason, her younger brother, was already engrossed in a mid-afternoon movie on cable TV. She flopped herself down on the other end of the couch. This scenario, in multitudes of variations, is repeated in millions of American and Canadian homes each weekday afternoon as schools emit their educational cargo to trudge home to homes devoid of the reassuring presence of a mother. Let's face it. Mothers are pretty special. A warm TV is no substitute for a warm embrace from a concerned, compassionate and caring mother. It should be agai...