Birthday Time

Since today is our mother's birthday, I pondered what I'd write. It has been four and a half years since she died, and I am astonished that so much time has passed. We miss her, but she is still such a powerful force in all of our lives. Last summer, at our family reunion, we were all asked to send in a memory of her in form of "Since Grandma has been gone..." Some were humorous: "...we leave the butter out to get soft." (She was notorious for using cold, hard butter to spread on bread, and she could do it better than anyone and it does taste good that way.) Another was silly, "...no one laughs and has their teeth come loose." (She had a partial upper plate and it would sometimes slip loose when she laughed hard.) Mine was, "...now I'm the one in my family who says, "S#!t" when they make a stupid or scary mistake." Yes, it slips right off the tongue in a moment of fright or frustration. It would slip off her tongue, too, and scandalize the grandchildren.

I was going to post a story I wrote about a special Christmas gift she received from my dad one year, but I looked back and realized I'd already done that. So you can go back and read it again, if you'd like, part one and part two.

So, today, think of the hard working, great cooking, ever cheerful, doer of good deeds, opinionated, and well-thought-of person who was our mother. Cook something for your friends, or eat some bread and butter, or smile and talk to a stranger in her honor.