Happy Birthday, Mom

Dear Mom,
I thought of you a lot today. So much has happened in our lives since you left us I thought I'd take the opportunity of your 86th Birthday to tell you about it all (or at least some of the highlights).

Of course the kids have gotten big, your great-grandchildren are something to see. It's so much fun for Penny and I to watch our children with children of their own. And there's another on the way! Michelle and Jay are going to have a baby! You would be so excited for them, I know how much you liked Jay, you used to tell me that you liked his face and then you'd smile as you thought of him. We're pretty excited for them. Ryleigh has named the baby Snowflake and is ready to move in with Auntie and Uncle Jay to take care of the baby. She's quiet the little mother herself. When Charlie, Isaac and Owen come over she's very protective. It brings back memories when they're all together.

Brandon is really growing up fast. He just did a big report in school about Teddy Roosevelt. He worked hard on it and was very excited to tell everyone in his class all he knew about him. He's fascinated with the Presidents. I told him the other day that you could recite the Presidents in order of their terms. He thought that was a pretty good thing to be able to do. He's a sweet boy.

Jen and Rob are taking good care of the house. It looks great, I think you'd really like the colors and it's fun to see Charlie growing up in the same place her grandmother and I did. It's a great house for a family.

Joel and Kelley have a nice home, too. Kelley puts a lot of videos of Owen online and it's like watching Joel all over again. Joel likes his truck driving job (a little Uncle Kenny in him?) They're a happy family.

Sara and Ian are settled into their new place, too and it's fun for all of us to be so close. Isaac has a great playroom and he's talking a mile a minute. Sara started a new job and seems to be happier there.

Lacey and the kids are fine here with us. She has had some changes in her job, but all in all it's going okay for her. We talk about when she moves out, but I don't think any of us really want that to happen. We have fun together and I think Kenny would go nuts without the kids here.

Penny and Jim just got back from vacation and it was a long week without her for me. (Yes, we're still on the phone or together a lot.) They are wonderful grandparents and loving every minute of that.

I've been in touch with Jeff lately. It's tentative and we don't talk about some things, but at least we're in touch. I know how it upset you that we were estranged. It's not easy or even comfortable, but it's a step in the right direction.

Kenny and I are good, too. We just got back from a great vacation in the Caribbean with Garry and Jane. It was a lot of fun and everywhere we went I saw all those little things I liked to buy for you. I walked away from them this year and pretended to be interested in other things. My job change has been hard on Kenny, but as you always said about him, he is a good man. He takes good care of me, Mom.

I thought there would be more to tell you, events and celebrations, major changes in the world and in our lives but now I realize it's not the big events, the holidays and celebrations when I miss you the most. What I've found over these past two years is it is the every day stuff, the day to day moments that I miss sharing with you over cups of tea in your kitchen. I even miss watching Ellen with you at the Nursing Home.

I think of you when I drive to work in the morning, in the middle of my day when I should be thinking of work, on my drive home and in the evening when I'm alone. I think of all the ways you influenced me in my life and look for signs of you wherever I go. The kids think of you when they see a cardinal and I think of you even when I don't see one.

I have met so many people since you left and at times I can't believe I have people in my life who didn't know you. I told someone about you the other day. I told them how strong you were and how proud I was to be your daughter. I told them how much I missed you.

A lot more has happened over the past two years but it all seems a bit irrelevant to me now. The days have come and gone and your family has stayed strong, we've stayed together and loved each other just like you taught us to. I think you'd be proud.

I miss you, Mom, and hope you spent some time today with your mother and that now you know how special it is to have a mother. I know how special it was for me.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

Love,
Bonnie