Birthdays and Remembering

Life and death are both marked by tracking time. In death, it is how long since one’s loved one died. In life, it’s birthdays! When a birthday has a zero tacked on the end of it, it’s a special birthday. This summer we celebrated the 70th birthday of a beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Part of the celebration was pulling off a party without Grandma knowing it was happening until the very last moment!

The days before the celebration were hectic. Invitations needed to be sent; chairs and tables needed to be gathered; sitting areas arranged; cake ordered; food prepared. Perhaps the most difficult task was keeping Grandma out of the mix. You see, Grandma is a hands-on, help-you-out, do-what-needs-to-be-done kind of person. A ruse was devised to keep her occupied until the evening festivities began. Even a family dinner at an alternate site was announced to Grandma, complete with a ruse to get her to stop by the REAL party site on the way to the PRETEND site. But Grandma being Grandma was ready to go more than an hour early – there might be need of a little last minute help! Panic phone calls were sent and received while another ruse was put in place to stall her as long as possible. When time would wait no more, she was brought around to pick up food from our house to take to the party.

Cars were parked all around the neighborhood as some 45 of her family and friends had secretly arranged to surprise her for her 70th birthday. The ruse was found out when others were still walking in as she was driven up to the house. But the look on her face as she came through the door was beautiful! It was her moment with her family and friends.

The Keeping Room – a place where family and friends meet to share the joys of life as we mark off the years of our sojourning.

More pictures of the celebration can be found at at "Barb and Dave's Family Album" link above.