You probably know that I refer to her often in these AT posts. It’s my way of remembering her and telling you about all those anti-communism jokes that we grew up listening to in a Cuban home.

My mom was the daughter of a Spanish immigrant who came to Cuba in the 1920’s. He met my grandmother, also of Spanish stock, who grew up on a cattle farm. They had two daughters, and I don’t exaggerate when I tell you that men from that area kept calling on the beautiful young women. My aunt was older, so she got more attention.

Eventually, my mom settled on my future father, a young banker whom she met when she was 19. It was love at first sight, or so they both told me, and that got everything started. A love story from a small Cuban town. It’d make a good Hallmark movie.

Of course, I say Happy Mother’s Day to my wife, who has put up with me for almost 40 years. I met and married her when Reagan was president, so I guess the timing was right. She is the mother of our 3 sons and grandmother of the growing new generation.

And now let me tell you about some of the other mothers that I grew up.

Over the years, we’ve loved TV mothers—i.e., all of those “mom” characters we grew up watching.

Here is my list of favorites:

1) Mrs. Cleaver in “Leave it to Beaver.” Barbara Billingsley died in late 2010. She will forever be Beaver’s mom and one of the most endearing characters in TV history. Frankly, didn’t Mrs. Cleaver remind you of your mom? We file her under the sweet mom category.

2) Mrs. Ingalls of “Little House on the Prairie.” She was just great. This is a show about the “frontier mother,” the courageous woman of the frontier. There is a little bit of that frontier character in the immigrant mom who taught us self-reliance and about strong character.

3) On a more hilarious note, let me add Mrs. Adams of “The Adams Family.” Wasn’t Mrs. Morticia Adams just hilarious? Doesn’t every mother have a bit of Mrs. Adams in her personality?

Honorable mention goes to Mrs. Parker of “The Christmas Story,” played by Melinda Dillon. She reminds me so much of my mother growing up. I’m convinced that she is part-Cuban because some of us had a soap scene in our lives after saying some bad words.

Again, we salute all the mothers today. We hope they all have a lovely day.