When Every Birthday Counts

My mom turned 97 on Saturday. My brother and sister and our families always try to travel to Minnesota for her birthday. It's a mini-family reunion as well as a celebration of our mother's life.

My mother has always been a worrier. As she has gotten older she worries more, and about things that don't matter at all. She also gets tired easily, of course. She's 97! So in planning this trip, we aimed at keeping things low-key, so as not to overwhelm her. That was our aim. Then things just happened.

Our group was smaller this year because my brother wasn't able to come this particular week. But my husband, both of our adult children, my sister and her husband, and I were all able to come. So My sister and I planned on a little celebration for Saturday afternoon at 2:00 -- bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Cake, birthday cards, and time together. (Bundtinis are an awesome invention! Bundt cakes the size of cupcakes in delicious flavors. I highly recommend!)

Then I emailed an older cousin to say we were coming up and did they want to get together sometime? Yes, she and her husband did and in fact, they's like to come over on Saturday for the birthday. Great!

Next, my niece texted me to ask if she could come over on Saturday afternoon for whatever birthday celebration we were having. Yes! I said, and bring your boyfriend.

We drove up on Thursday and went to visit Mom in her independent living establishment. She said, "Dennis and Louis (more cousins) are driving down (from western Minnesota) to see me on my birthday!"

So now our low-key birthday was up to 12 people, which is really too many for Mom's little apartment. And we need actual refreshments. Fortunately, my mother is popular with the staff at her complex and they were happy to find us a bigger room to use. Five of us went out shopping Saturday morning for lots of bundtinis, candles, plates, drinks, cups, and napkins. We met up for lunch and were having such a good time, that we didn't make it back to the complex until 2:10. Fortunately, all the guests except for two were also late!

Our one remaining obstacle was four ladies playing cards in the room we had reserved, but the concierge gently moved them elsewhere.

In the end, the party was lovely. Everyone ate cake, drank iced tea, and chatted.

The following day, the activities director told me Mom had been fussing and stressing about this "low-key" party for days. If she can imagine something going wrong, she will. Our main concern was not tiring her out, but, though she was certainly tired, she also seemed to be energized by all the people and activity.

When your parent is 97, you just have to celebrate!

Summer Reading

School is out for me, at least mostly out. There's still moving into a new classroom later this summer, meeting with my new teaching partner to talk curriculum and books, and a few other loose ends. But it is time to plunge into summer reading!

I'm off to Barnes & Noble later to use my gift card (end-of-year gift!). The books I will buy today are totally for fun -- A Discovery of Witches and Good Omens. A Discovery of Witches was described by one reviewer as Twilight for adults. I despised Twilight, but I checked it out of the library before reading that review (which was a positive review) and got almost halfway through before I had to return it to the library (waiting list, no renewals). It is a sexy vampire novel, but it takes place mostly at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, giving it an intellectual aura. I think it will be a great summer read. Good Omens is by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Gaiman is one of my two favorite authors, the other being Jane Austen, and the description looks fun. Another perfect summer read, I hope. Both of these books have been made into television shows, but I would rather read the book.

Professionally, I'm reading a book on teaching AI. My school will begin adding AI to the curriculum in the fall, and this book is required reading. I recently finished No More Math Fact Frenzy, an argument for eliminating Mad Minutes in favor of teaching that promotes a deeper understanding of math. I've also got Welcome to Writing Workshop in my pile, along with books by Jeff Anderson and Ralph Fletcher.

I hope by August I will refreshed and renewed with great ideas!