Happy 84th!
Today I am grateful for safe travels for my husband Darcy this week and I am grateful for my mom.
Today is Mom's birthday. She is 84. It is mind-boggling to consider the ways that things have changed since 1931, the vast history that has unfolded. I wonder what it feels like to her.
I am grateful to Mom for many reasons, starting with the obvious. She brought me life. She and I have a common passion for recording our lives in writing. I write more about thoughts and feelings. She writes more about happenings, weather, events. But we both write. We both enjoy nature and the changing seasons and walking. Between her and Dad, they instilled many good values in us: respect, sharing, giving, a strong work ethic, a sense of humility, a focus on faith.
I called my mom last evening and we had a nice chat. In recent years we have had family gatherings to celebrate Mom's birthday, but this year we are skipping that. After a health setback in January, she isn't up for it. She will likely get several shorter visits from smaller contingents and a number of phone calls. In the back of my mind, and I think my other siblings' minds too, is that question of "How many more birthdays will Mom have?"
None of us is guaranteed another birthday. But it seems to become more of a question as people become elderly and slow down.
A Thursday evening phone call also brings to mind a call that I didn't make in October of 1998. October 22 to be exact. I was a newlywed with a new job, a new home, a new state of residence. Life was busy. I talked to my parents every couple weeks or so. Often, they would each get on one of the two phones in the house and we would talk between the three of us. I was overdue to make a call to them on that Thursday night, but I was tired and decided to wait until over the weekend to call them.
That was a fateful decision. My dad died of a heart attack the next morning. I felt so bad and wished so much that I had made that call, had that last conversation with my dad. After his death, I vowed to call Mom weekly and I did for the next 10 years. Sometimes now it isn't weekly, but I try to stay connected.
I am grateful for my mom and the connections we can make in person and on the phone. Happy Birthday Mom!
Today is Mom's birthday. She is 84. It is mind-boggling to consider the ways that things have changed since 1931, the vast history that has unfolded. I wonder what it feels like to her.
I am grateful to Mom for many reasons, starting with the obvious. She brought me life. She and I have a common passion for recording our lives in writing. I write more about thoughts and feelings. She writes more about happenings, weather, events. But we both write. We both enjoy nature and the changing seasons and walking. Between her and Dad, they instilled many good values in us: respect, sharing, giving, a strong work ethic, a sense of humility, a focus on faith.
I called my mom last evening and we had a nice chat. In recent years we have had family gatherings to celebrate Mom's birthday, but this year we are skipping that. After a health setback in January, she isn't up for it. She will likely get several shorter visits from smaller contingents and a number of phone calls. In the back of my mind, and I think my other siblings' minds too, is that question of "How many more birthdays will Mom have?"
None of us is guaranteed another birthday. But it seems to become more of a question as people become elderly and slow down.
A Thursday evening phone call also brings to mind a call that I didn't make in October of 1998. October 22 to be exact. I was a newlywed with a new job, a new home, a new state of residence. Life was busy. I talked to my parents every couple weeks or so. Often, they would each get on one of the two phones in the house and we would talk between the three of us. I was overdue to make a call to them on that Thursday night, but I was tired and decided to wait until over the weekend to call them.
That was a fateful decision. My dad died of a heart attack the next morning. I felt so bad and wished so much that I had made that call, had that last conversation with my dad. After his death, I vowed to call Mom weekly and I did for the next 10 years. Sometimes now it isn't weekly, but I try to stay connected.
I am grateful for my mom and the connections we can make in person and on the phone. Happy Birthday Mom!
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