Happy Birthday, Mom

The Mom celebrates turning 80 today. A Halloween baby. As is the case with most moms, she's not perfect, but she sure is awesome. I am very proud of her and all she has done in her life. Growing up with Spanish-only speaking parents in El Paso, Texas, in a post-depression era society, she has seen and accomplished much.

She has told me stories about making wild onions into dolls and playing kick ball in the street. She has recalled nights illuminated by kerosene lamps since their neighborhood didn't have electricity 24-hours a day and actually having a chunk of ice to keep things cold in the fridge. She's told me about bomb scares and lights out programs during WWII and societal changes and race relations during the '50s and '60s, not to mention the hippies and drugs of the '70s, women's liberation and the sexual revolution. Oh my! Her seven children are wide-ranging in age -- 22 years from top to bottom -- that she has seen many changes just by witnessing what we have experienced.

Now, there's more than a dozen grandchildren (including Mia that was born this summer), as many great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild in a womb! Yes, I will have a niece and a great-great niece born within a year of each other.
I hate that I'm not there celebrating with her. She would have it no other way. She insists that the kids stopping by my place tonight requesting a handful of treats and well wishes from me need my presence more than she does. She tells me they're secretly celebrating her birthday.

In the pic here she is looking at over the scenery of northern New Mexico/southeastern Colorado while riding in the lounge car of our Amtrak excursion (Summer 2007). While enjoying the sites I bet she is wondering what will be on the other side of mountain, what adventure is next, what challenge is around the corner, what victory will be celebrated. Happy Birthday, Mom!