"She made me feel important"

Friends of several decades saw me suffer with my mother and it is only a decade after her death I've been able to remember the good things mostly during my childhood and teenage needs when a mother is the most important. As one friend reminded me, "she didn't ruin your life and because or in spite of her you are stronger." So true.
This month I reconnected with a man whom I had dated for a short time (the only boy I ever dated she liked but that might have been the short time factor). He is responsible indirectly for the oldest friendship I have and thus my girl friend and I often expressed our gratitude to him in our chats.
As we were catching up on the twists and turns of our lives, and both of us have lived lives that were no way typical of our up bringing.
He said, "I really liked your mother."
Long ago I learned not to rip out someone's jugular vein when they said something I disagreed with but ask why, and have learned incredible things when I do ask why. So once more the W word escaped my lips.
"She made me feel important. I was only this insignificant high school kid, but she made me feel important."
And I suddently realised that was a talent my mother had and the dregs of the anger I feel moved even further away. Maybe someday they will disappear entirely. I hope so.