HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!

My Mom (39 years old again......."If Jack Benny can do it, so can I!" ) has a birthday today. And she does not care how old I get to be. I am her oldest.

Clue here about her age... when my 25th Class reunion took place, it was her 50th Class Reunion, too. When I graduated from High School, I was 18 yrs old. Mom's bday being in the middle of the summer was not yet 18. Some from her class quit school and went to war during her senior year. Some waited until they graduated that June. And then, it was another three years or so before the war ended. Which war? .... ah, that is for YOU to figure out..... but my Dad served under Patton.

On Saturday, we celebrated Mom's birthday. All of her kids were there. Their spouses, if married were there. And most of her grandkids, great grandkids. AND all five of her siblings!

Mom was married to Dad for just short of forty years, when he died. She has now been alone since June 3, 1987. Together, they raised ten children.

Her dream was to travel the US visiting her kids for a couple of weeks each. Her siblings' children have moved away, you see.... At various times, she made it to Texas (Dallas area) and to Virginia. One son served in Germany, so they visited there, and also saw Ireland the same trip. Another brother and a sister served in the military, too, so she visited each of them for short times, I think, when they completed basic....)

The rest never really left the area.... well, one brother made it to Waupaca, and we had lived in Merrill for about seven years, and then Oshkosh for eight.... one is under an hour, the second was under three hours away, the third a half hour..... and at LEAST one sister had never left the State of Wisconsin, even on a vacation until they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary! (Then they did it BIG time and went to Rome~)

Mom's children range in ages that span 19 1/2 years from oldest to youngest. The youngest two helped to keep her young, in many ways.

When the second youngest was just in kindergarten, the baby came along. I, the oldest, had already completed my first year in college....

She has ten kids, most are married. At last count, there are 30+ grand children, and five great grandchildren, so far, with only two of us having grandkids yet. Soon there will be six..... and who knows how many more?

Mom raised her children after her own mother had passed away while she was in nursing school. She had no one to call and ask for advice and reassurance. As her children had children, we were all glad that she was there for US to ask...and I personally often wondered how she made it having ten, with no one to talk to. Her younger sisters called HER for advice. She had two older brothers.... not quite the same as a Mom.....

My youngest brother is a Harley driver. He gave my Aunt a ride, and the next thing I know..... MOM is getting helped to the back of the Hog and taking off down the street on the back, too! Amidst a lot of photo taking and cheering and "YAY, MOM's" "GO, GRANDMA's!"

She kept putting off cutting the cake, though. And they thoughtfully did NOT put candles on ... you know, the one for every year? Thirty nine are, after all, hard to blow out......

One of those sisters and her husband took photos of Mom and put them to music on a CD for us to watch on Saturday. Mom as a baby. Mom with her family on the farm. Mom with her friends, with her cousins, with her sisters... Mom in nursing school, Mom with friends from that time, Mom on her wedding day, Mom and Dad at sibs weddings, Mom and Dad's surprise 25th wedding anniversary party we had for her (she did not want one...wait til the fiftieth, she'd say... and I am SOOO glad I did not listen to her. Dad left us too early for that one).

It was a very nice day.

Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you! And MANY MORE!

Love,
Your First Born