Today was my mother’s birthday. She died in 1998 but I still do something special to celebrate each year on July 31.
This year, the day’s celebration began with house guests: my youngest granddaughter, Chelsea, her mom (my daughter-in-law) Pam, and Chelsea’s baby, Seth, who will be one year old in August. There is nothing like a year-old baby who knows how to walk to keep everyone else on their toes! He is a happy, busy boy. When I introduced him to player piano music, he jiggled up and down to the beat. My mother loved family gatherings and always showed interest in whatever the grandkids and great-grandkids were doing. She also enjoyed player piano music. She would have loved watching little Seth.
Mother was a generous person who liked to give surprise gifts to friends and who contributed to a wide variety of charitable causes, so I always make a donation in her honor on this day. As it happened, I received an unexpected check today for reprint rights to “The Dog Newspaper,” the first chapter in my memoir, Five Pages a Day: A Writer’s Journey, so I decided to make two donations this year. As I wrote out the checks, I felt – as I have felt all my life – grateful to have had such wonderful parents.
Happy birthday, Mother.