Happy Birthday to you ....

Today is my mother's 89th birthday!  

Three years ago this month found her in the hospital with many serious illnesses to battle.  I did not think she would make it through the week.  The fact that she is here today, I think, is a miracle.

I've often thought my mother resembles Queen Elizabeth, pictured above, as a young woman.  My mother's father was from Birmingham, England, so perhaps there is a family connection going back hundreds of years.

My mother had a very difficult childhood, but found "her prince" as she called my father, when she went off to work at the Book-of-the-Month Club.  They had 32 years together before he passed away.  She has shared with me that she misses him dearly right now. They raised three children and were overjoyed with having eight grandchildren.

Daughter #2, her husband, children and I went and spent some time with her at her home this afternoon.  You should have seen the look on Little Miss's face, as I sat on the couch, hugged my mother and said, "This is MY mommy!" She seemed very confused by it all. She knows my mother as "Grandma the Great" or "The Great" as she likes to be called. Hard for a three year old to grasp that her Grandmom has a mommy.

My mother has lived in her home for the past 56 years.  It seemed incredible to me, holding the hands of Baby C as she walked around her living room, that this is also the house where I grew up.  The house where, like me, my girls dunked for apples at Halloween, ate Thanksgiving dinner and had sleepovers. And now here we are, four generations, gathered together to celebrate my mother.  What a gift that is!

Happy Birthday, Mom! I wish you many more years here with us all!

Love you!