Thursday, December 2, 2010

Moms, Birthdays, Parades & Costumes


My Mother's 85th birthday was November 16. The last "big birthday" she had was her 80th and my sister and I decided to hold a parade in our home town in her honor....of course we didn't tell her so when we showed up with a pickup truck, over-sized chair in the back of the truck and crown with a bouquet of roses, she was mortified. We had the police block off main street and all the local merchants had a little glass of schnapps for her as she drove by. The high school band played "Happy Birthday" and a huge football player kinda kid sang "When Irish Eyes are Smiling". The local newspaper came to take photos for the front page of the local paper. My Mother swore that she would never speak to us again. She did speak to us that night at dinner and explained that her reputation was ruined and her friends probably wouldn't speak to her again. They did. In fact, one of them called me a week before her 85th to see what we were doing this year....nobody wanted to miss the fun.

We did surprise her by coming home unannounced a few days before the big day. We had a murder mystery dinner and raided the local costume shop for our outfits. The party was fun...still I know she was waiting for that last big surprise. It's hard to top a parade, but this year's big surprise was excellent too - her granddaughter Maggie became engaged during our mystery crime dinner.

Happy Birthday Mom, We're already planning the 90th!!!!

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