Today is my mother’s birthday. She is 70. This is a picture of her with her two beloved grandchildren Nephew the Older and Nephew the Younger who displaced me as the apple of her eye the skunks.

 

She is getting what she really wants for her birthday – a family get-together. Even her brother and some cousins are coming into town.  

 

My mother is a nice person. Really. I have never heard her say anything nasty about another person. I have never seen her shout or yell. She doesn’t swear. She bakes cookies when she goes visiting her kids.

More important, she is happy. She has a marriage of nearly 50 years to a man she loves. She is pleased as punch over her children and she adores her grandchildren. When I brought Someone into the family she folded him into her line of chicks. When Brother #4 married a woman with 2 teens, mother accepted them like her own.

 

Her one problem is her health. She had a bad reaction to cholesterol medication and her muscles are weakened. But she remains very active in church matters. She volunteers at my alma mater medical school. She has been an amateur singer for many decades. Etc. etc. etc.

 

So Happy Birthday mother, you are a fortunate woman indeed.