Happy 93rd Birthday, Mom!
November 21, 2019
My mother is one of my favorite parents. Today is her 93rd birthday and she did not want me to make a big deal about it. However, it is a big deal and I asked her if I could please say a little something about her day.
She was born in 1926, which was quite a different time than 2019. Consider some of these facts from the year my mom was born-1926:
Life expectancy was 54.1 years
Calvin Coolidge was President of the United States and Charles Dawes was Vice President (do you even remember hearing of Charles Dawes?)
A new home cost $7,748
Average annual income was $2,310
Average monthly rent was $20
Tuition to Harvard University was $300 per year
A movie ticket was 20 cents each
Gasoline was 12 cents a gallon
Eggs were 14 cents a dozen (about a penny each)
Bread was 9 cents a loaf
Milk was 34 cents a gallon
Ground coffee was 30 cents per pound
The government established the Army Air Corps (I’ll come back to this)
I think you’ll agree it was certainly a different time. And my mother has exceeded the life expectancy of 1926 by almost 40 years and I am so thankful! I am thankful because she truly is the nicest, kindest, most affectionate and loving person I know. Perhaps that sounds trite, but there is not one iota of triteness in my description of my mom! In all the years that I have known her, she has never been stingy with her verbal affirmations of love, with her nurturing and caregiving of my brothers and me, with her husband, or with her kisses (just ask the grandchildren and great- grandchildren). And while she has some limitations at her age, she still remains eager to fix my dad a snack, make him a cup of tea to drink with his cookies, lay out his clothes, or to cut his hair so he looks “presentable” for his doctor’s visits. She always tells him, “I care how you look” to which he replies, “Humph!”
My dad is my other favorite parent. It is almost impossible to speak of my mom without speaking of my dad. She has taken a real shine for him. A few days ago, on Veteran’s day, I posted a picture of my dad but I did not post any details about the picture. My dad served in the Army Air Corps, which was established in the year of my mother’s birth. This picture was taken on January 13, 1945, the day he graduated from navigator school and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant navigator. The day before he was commissioned, his monthly salary was $21 and his parents, Italian immigrants to the U.S. around 1922, were HIS dependents, and received a little bit more than that. However, on January 13th, his salary jumped to $640 a month and so his parents got a raise too!
When I think of my parents’ age, (my dad is 94), and when I think of how they live their lives, and how much they both honored their parents and family, I can’t help but wonder if that is part of their secret of a long life!
Ephesians 6:2-3 English Standard Version
2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
Happy Birthday, Mom! Happy Every Day, Dad! And as we say each night, “I love you more!”