Happy birthday to my mom, who would be 85 today. This is one of my favorite photos of her, from one of the best times we ever had together, in Munich, 1981.

She sold some of her treasured Madame Alexander dolls to afford to fly (for the first time) to see me when I was a student in Munich, navigating airport changes in NYC and customs in Dusseldorf by herself before arriving in Munich in a blizzard. My father had died shortly before, and she was still in shock, I believe. But she made it.

We...