Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is a special day in our family. We are celebrating my mother's 85th birthday!

My sister and I never lived close enough for most of our adult years to celebrate together. And following close on the heels of her birthday comes Mother's Day. I'm sure Mother received many combination gifts over the years and phone calls and cards galore.Now, at least, Mom is close to me and we will have a special dinner with my in-laws here also.

Mom already knows that she is receiving another "combo" gift from me. I'm taking her on a road trip next month back to our hometown. We'll visit family and friends along the way (1300 miles one way) and the cemeteries where my father and her parents were laid to rest. Mom's family reunion is at the end of the month and we will start home after that. So much to look forward to! So, Happy Birthday, Mom. I hope your 85th year will be everything you want it to be.

Loneliness

One of the downsides of moving a parent close to you from another state is the loneliness they experience. Take my mother, for example.

She left the area she'd lived in all her life. Nurse retirees who kept in touch. The church friends from 50 years plus. For two years now, she's been in a condo less than half a mile from me. We talk every day, and I see her at her place or mine at least four days a week. She attends church and Sunday school, some ladies luncheons through the church, but she has no one to just "talk" to. No one to call here and say, "can you come for coffee". No one to drop in to visit but me.

She is lonely. It's evident in the way she talks and she has even said so once or twice. I keep searching for groups or places I can take her. Even so, it must be hard to make new friends at 85. I'm all she has.