A Special Birthday for a Very Special Lady

Twelve or so hours before the circle of life rolled around to the sad part of the wheel, our household was enjoying a much more celebratory occasion:  the 70th birthday of my dear mother.  I was so absent-minded after a long, busy day yesterday that I didn't get out the camera to take any pictures of her on her big day, so instead, I decided to dig through some old pictures and see what I could find.  ;-)  These are not high-quality, because as I dug them out of my photo storage box, I quickly snapped a picture with my current camera; pictures of pictures aren't known for their outstanding technical characteristics.  But the memories connected with these pictures far outweigh the deficits.  :)  Here, then, are some peeks back at my mother through the past dozen (more or less) years...

~ one summer (maybe '98?), Jeff and I went with my parents to Camp-of-the-Woods, for an incredible vacation there...actually, we went twice: once during the summer of '96 during Jeff's first visit to the East Coast (and his first time meeting my family) and once after we were married

 ~ while at Camp-of-the-Woods, Dad and Jeff played horseshoes

 ~ and so did Mom and I?!?!  Mom throwing a horseshoe?  I had completely forgotten about this and would not have guessed that she had ever played horseshoes  :)

~ Mother and I also played a piano duet for the camp's talent show...I'm not sure what song we played, but I'm sure our cute overalls impressed the judges  ;-)

~ when Mother came to visit us in our first apartment in San Diego, she helped us turn a funny little strip of land that our apartment opened to, into a small but fertile garden for tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, hot peppers, and even a dwarf orange tree that is still there!  (every time we visit San Diego, we drive by and look at the orange tree's branches hanging over the fence and think with a small amount of pride, "we planted that!")  :)

 ~ in those days, I was a piano teacher and had a large group of students...for our Christmas recital one year, Mother happened to be visiting, and she and I played some duets together...we didn't wear overalls this time though  ;-)

~ my parents were there for Jeff's graduation from the University of Phoenix...once they got over their initial reluctance to him pursuing me ;-), they quickly grew to love him, and have been so supportive of and grateful for him through the years

~ my mother was there when Josiah was born which was so special in so many ways (she's actually been present for three out of the four births...and the only reason she wasn't with me when I gave birth to David is because we were living in Israel at the time and she had just arrived--literally--from the States to stay with Josiah while I was in the hospital)

~ my dad came out to join us about a week after the birth; and here they are standing by a little patch of ground at our second home...once again, Mother helped us transform that into a little spot of beauty

 ~ about five months after Josiah was born, we got the call to move to Israel, so Mother came back to California to help us begin to pack

~ she also helped by cuddling sweet Josiah a lot  ;-)

A few days ago as I was driving along with my boys, they started singing, "I Love You a Bushel and a Peck," which they learned from a Veggie Tales lullaby CD.  When I heard their voices, I was swept away to when I was young and often heard that tender, silly song being sung to me.  Whose voice sang it?  My mother's, of course.  

Tonight it's my turn to "sing" it back to my mother...

I love you, a bushel and a peck,

A bushel and a peck, and a hug around the neck,

A hug around the neck, and a barrel and a heap,

A barrel and a heap, and I'm talking in my sleep

About you...about you.

I love you, a bushel and a peck,

You bet your pretty neck, I do!

Happy 70th birthday, dear Mother!  I admire the way you've arrived at this milestone with such grace and joy.  I wanna be like you when I grow up...