There are only a few people in this world that have known this lady longer then me. Ever since I can remember, I have considered her to be the sweetest, kindest, prettiest and nicest woman I know. I have always been aware that I will never be like her, but she has always been my inspiration, and when someone tells me that I am "just like her", I can only say, Thank-you!, I really try to be!"
Today she turns 87. Because I have known her always, I tend to forget what she has lived through....
She was born during the Great Depression, during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, on a farm in North Dakota, in a house without running water. And she vividly remembers the move from there to Northern California in the early 1940s, in an old Model T, owned by one of her parents' cousins.
She married her high school sweetheart, had 5 children, and moved more than a dozen times, in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and again Oregon, before the age of 32.
Then, she gave up her beloved farm in Oregon, to travel with her family to Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and back to the US, at the ripe old age of 41. Once back here, she moved from Iowa to Florida, Texas and Montana, finally settling in Idaho. After living there until retirement age, she and Daddy moved to Montana.
She loves to be outside in her yard, playing with her flowers, listening to "her" birds. She adopts stray cats. She opens her big windows and watches the creek and wildlife that go by. She has always liked clothes and loves to dress nicely. She hates being left out of the fun...
She loves her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren with a ferocity passed on to her daughters and granddaughters. Now that she is in her golden years, she has lost so very many people she loves. Yet she continues to be positive and happy and only gets blue in the winter, when she cannot get out as much as she would like, and does not have much sunshine to brighten her days.
I love this woman with all my heart. Happy Birthday, Mama!
Commentaires