Wow.  Just one week ago, I walked into the house on a Friday night tired from the week's work and so glad to be home.  Mary and Ian greeted me at the back door with the biggest smiles.  "Happy Birthday Mom!" says Mary.  "This is the beginning of your birthday weekend, and your first present is in the green room."  "You're gonna love it," says Ian.  I'm thinking, well, whatever the surprise is, the remarkable look of joy on my kids' faces here is enough of a gift already!

I had worked on the IT Service Desk all day Friday.  Between phone calls, I chatted with co-workers about the fact that my birthday was coming up and that my family must be planning something, because no one has said anything about what we might be doing for this milestone (50 years) birthday.  We chatted about age, and parents, and I mentioned that my mom is going to be 87 this July, and how I wonder if I will ever see her again because she lives on the West coast. 

We had said our tearful good-bye, my mom and me, this past New Year's Eve.  It was the last day of my Christmas visit to Rainier, Washington, to see her and Tanya in their new home.  On the way to the airport, we stopped so Mom and I could visit my dad's grave.  As I looked at his stone, and looked at my mom standing next to me, it occurred to me that, given her age and health, given both our busy lives, and the cost of coast-to-coast travel, I may not see her again before she too has a tombstone here next to him.  And I cried at that thought.  I cried in the car.  As I checked my bags at the airport and chatted with the porter, tears streamed down my face.  I cried while I waited to board the plane.  I cried as I said, "Coffee, please," to the flight attendant.  I cried while I flipped through magazines at 30,000 feet.  I cried when I arrived home and every time I related this part of my trip to anyone.

It was too much for Mary, so she wrote a letter to her grandma.  And the result of that letter was that there, waiting in the green room, as my birthday present, was my mom.

I gasped.  I cried.  I hugged her.  I laughed.  I hugged Mary and Ian and Seattle and said thank you again and again.  They loved it.  I loved it.  The best birthday surprise ever. 







Copyright (c) 2007