“This is 96!”
November 20, 2022
Today is my Mom’s 96th birthday, and her first birthday in 74 years, without my Dad. She does not like any attention or fuss made about her day. However, 96 is a big deal and while my family tried to keep the fuss to a minimum, we had to celebrate in some fashion! I sang, “Happy Birthday” to her 96 times, but I am not sure it made her terribly happy.
My mom was born in 1926 and every time I have to give her year of birth, at a doctor’s visit or a trip to the pharmacy, it reinforces just how long ago my mom was born, and how different 1926 is than 2022. 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
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
Bread was 9 cents a loaf
Milk was 34 cents a gallon
Ground coffee was 30 cents per pound
My mother has now exceeded the life expectancy of 1926 by 42 years and I am so thankful! She is never stingy with her verbal affirmations of love, or with her family famous kisses (just ask the grandchildren and great- grandchildren about GG’s kisses).
While her limitations increase with age, and while she greatly misses her sweetheart, she still remains eager to love her family. She wishes at times that she could still cook and clean (you’ll never hear me say that I miss those things), but she cannot.
When my mom’s grandchildren, and great grandchildren speak of her, they use words like, ‘amazing’, ‘loving’, ‘best’. They use phrases such as, “I hope to be half the wife and mother she has shown us to be over the years.” And just by way of mentioning, never do I have to arm wrestle with anyone about having the best Mom in all the world!
Happy Birthday, Mom! As we always say to each other after we say, “I love you”, I love you more!
“28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
29 Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”—Proverbs 31:28-29