But when it comes to my mother's death, 20 years ago today, it still feels like it happened yesterday. I mean, I can remember everything so clearly: the diagnosis of lung cancer at the age of 61, the fast spiral downhill, her last Thanksgiving and her last Christmas/Hanukah and then her last New Year's.
My mom and I left behind few if any unresolved issues, so this hasn't been a tortured 20 years, although I miss her. Every day.
Those of you who have experienced this kind of loss know the feeling so well -- but it's like a wound that never really heals. The scar tissue forms, but the covering isn't total. Not by a long shot.
This morning, at sunrise, my two kids and I struck three matches, and each of us held our flame to light a candle. And we thought of Darlene Ritter.
We all have back stories. Today, that's mine.
Tonight at 11, Lee Goldberg is tracking yet another nasty winter storm that's coming in tomorrow.
And we'll have the latest from the Middle East, where the U.N. Security Council ceasefire proposal has so far fallen on deaf ears. The fighting rages on. N.J. Burkett is there for us. And why in the world did the U.S., in the person of Secretary of State Rice, abstain from voting last night? She said she agreed with the proposal. The only way to look at it is that the Bush Administration did not want to do anything that could be seen as a criticism of Israel.
Also at 11, Tappy Phillips looks at some of the lesser known victims of the accused stock swindler Bernie Madoff. Not all of the investors in the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme were celebrities. Tappy tonight has the story of one investor who lost everything - and he didn't a fortune to begin with.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Scott Clark with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11, right after 20/20.
BILL RITTER
