My mom met Paula through the Pittsburgh Junior League in the mid-80s. They’d both moved to the area after getting married, and became fast friends.

Over the years, we went to many a summer cook-out at Paula’s lovely 1920s bungalow, where she lived with her husband and two young sons. But one gathering in particular,…

Several years ago, my friend’s family was house hunting in the town where her mother, “V,” grew up. After many weeks of touring houses that just weren’t a fit, they viewed a newly listed property. It was a beautiful home, and large enough for their expanding family (the siblings were grown, or nearly grown, and…