Yesterday we celebrated my mother's 90th birthday. How could the little girl I once was have ever imagined I would one day be singing "Happy Birthday" to my ninety year old mommy along with my husband of 35 years and two of my grown children? A month ago, she thought she was turning 70 this year. Several times in the past few weeks, she mentioned she would be 80. She was dumbfounded to receive a note from her pension plan which congratulated her on her 90th birthday. It couldn't possibly be, but it was.
It was a year ago that she began a serious long decline. The physical problems were in the forefront for many months. I honestly couldn't have foreseen that she'd live to see this birthday let alone rebound as well as she has. Once she was doing better physically, alas her mental murkiness became evident. She's forgotten many things but she still knows her family and thoroughly enjoys all the attention.
Yesterday she really was overcome by emotions on several occasions. Her room was full of beautiful floral arrangements. She received many phone calls. Many people thought to send her birthday cards, the neatest of which was a beautiful large home-made card with greetings signed by 62 people from her old church. We brought her a vanilla latte, a favorite treat, to wash down her birthday cake. After she opened her presents, we wheeled her outside to enjoy the April sunshine. In the words of our newspaper's social correspondent "a good time was had by all".
No comments:
Post a Comment