It's time for a Celebration!: April 2009

Some days of celebration are a little out of the ordinary..and this is one of those days.

It was 13 years ago on April 24, 1996 when I got the call...but first let me step back...

This is my mother's watch...simple and unadorned. It's a working watch, not a fancy dress watch. It isn't self winding, or battery powered..it's a simple, wind it yourself watch with a clean face, a sweeping second hand, and a twisted and well worn stretch band. And I love it!

I love it because in many ways, it is so like my mother.

My mother's hands were always busy...baking, weeding, sewing, washing, tending, holding and fixing. My mother never spent any time in a manicure chair...and I don't ever remember my mother even having her nails polished.

Every Easter of my childhood, I can remember my sister and I having our nails polished...we would get pink nail polish on our stubby little fingers and mom would call it good until the next Easter Sunday. You might think we would have replayed the ritual for Christmas, but for some reason, it was reserved only for Easter...but this day was neither Easter nor Christmas.

The week began with a birthday celebration on April 21, 1996, when mom took Steven out for his "breakfast with Granny"...just like she had done every year since the boys were old enough to eat alone...down to Mrs. Turner's they went for their special time together. She was going to wait until she came home from her trip back East, but then thought better of it, put off her packing, and went to breakfast. I can only imagine how special that was for the two of them. Mom liked to spend some one-on-one time with her precious grandson, and for Steven to have some time away from the "little brothers" and have some quality "just for me" time with Granny...and pancakes, don't forget the pancakes and cocoa!

On Wednesday, April 24, 1996 I took mom to the airport for her annual trip back East to visit with Dan & David & Marybeth. She would spend a glorious couple of weeks with them and I would pick her up from the airport and we again would have her all to ourselves.

The day went on normal enough and soon it was 5 pm and time to be heading for mid week church, Bible Quiz for Steven and Royal Rangers for Danny & Billy and Bible Study for me. Marc was on a business trip, I think it was to San Antonio.

Our dinner was relaxed and soon we were headed out the door, running just a tiny bit later than we would like when the phone rang...and I answered...thinking it would be Marc and risking running just a little late in order to chat with him. Steven's Quiz coaches would understand our delay.

But the phone call wasn't Marc, it was my brother,Dan....all the way from Virginia. "There's been an acident", thinking Mom must have fallen and maybe broken a leg, my mind raced to figure out where I would get a wheelchair to pick her up when she returned. But it wasn't her leg, "Mom's gone".

I couldn't wrap my mind around it...gone? how could she be gone? I had just put her on the plane, she was the healthest person I knew. He must be mistaken, there had to be some other explaination. He must be confused, he must mean some other mom.

In the moments and the days, months, and years that have now followed that hollowing moment, the truth is that yes, she is gone, but she is not forgotten.

...so, thirteen years ago, on April 24, 1996 at 5:10pm I got the call, my mother was gone. She died from a massive heart attack as she was walking off the plane in Washington, DC.

So, can today really be a day of Celebration?....of course it can!

In the midst of the sadness of a broken heart, I celebrate my mother and all that she means to me. Today is the celebration of the day when she went HOME. One moment she was walking down a jetway and in the next instant, she was standing in Eternity, worshipping her Savior with parents, and siblings, her beloved Julian, and precious Paul Michael...together again.

And one day, I will see her again and join that happy throng. There will be no more need for watches, plain, fancy or otherwise. It will be as though no time at all has past.

And that will be the greatest celebration day of them all. No more tears, no more pain, no more parting...forever!

I love you Mom...and I will see you in the morning!

Hooray for Birthdays, our personal days of celebration!

Is there anything better than a cake with our name it? Here one sits ready for the celebrating to begin!

This little lion has certainly heard his share of Happy Birthday choruses over his 50+ years of being in our family's drawer of birthday treasures. He was originally a part of a larger group of circus animals. At one time there were giraffes, donkeys, and elephants, but now only a few of the herd remain. One by one I rotate them through the cake parade at our house. They never disappoint and are always in style. Other themes may come and go, but the vintage blue birthday parade lives on. Thank you mom! What a sweet touch of childhood this little candle holder is.

We can find cards on the shelves of the grocery store. There are stacks of every kind...funny, serious, sentimental, religious, corny...you name it, it's there. But, I think the best cards of all are the cards with your name on the envelope! Early, late, or right on time...there's nothing like a little love in an envelope that you can hold on to and tuck away to re-read over and over again.

We set the scene for our birthday celebrating with the china plates and silver forks.

Tonight we use the china we got when Marc and I were married. Not alot of fussiness about them, and not alot of fan fare went in to their choosing. The thought of registering for the fine china at the mall was a little too high brow for us. You know the kind, the ones that are bought one place setting at a time. And even if we could settle on one set, who did we know who would spend that kind of money on a set of dishes? No, we found these beauties all packed and ready to go home with us. We bought the entire set for @ $40...back in the day. And 33 years later they still have a way of turning a special day into a celebration.

The silver belonged to my parents, Granny & Papa :) When we seperated the household treasures after my mother died, the set became mine. So many special tables of my childhood have been set with these forks. And so many more will be set in the years to come.

In our family, choosing the dinner is the Birthday tradition. My favorite meal was always my mom's homemade pizza. There was something about the crispy crust, hand grated cheese, summer sausage and special sauce ~ I do miss those pizzas! But mom didn't leave behind a recipe. The making of the pizza was an automatic for her. She made it all from memory, there no need for a recipe card. Yet now, there is no way to duplicate it. Still I keep searching for the elusive pizza recipe with the unique combination of everything wonderfully familiar!

For Danny, the dinner of choice was, hands down, Olive Garden lasagna, and Black Tie Mousse Cake. Yummy!

What gift do you get for the brother who has everything? Billy gave to Danny the sweetest gift of all...Swedish fish and Snickers! If it really is the thought that counts, then this is one sweet thought!