Day 79: Happy Birthday!

My mom turns 73 today. It's a miracle really if you ask me.

I said to her last night, "Don't party too hard tonight on your last day of being 72." She didn't really understand at first and then I said, "It's your birthday tomorrow." She said, "It is? Oh, I knew it was coming up because I have so many cards...I just didn't know when."

That explains a lot of where my mom is right now. It's her birthday, but she wouldn't have known it if no one had told her.

I talked to her this morning and she told me that she got beautiful flowers delivered from 3 of her friends that she graduated with. She said they were her favorite flowers and she didn't know how they knew it. Then she said, "They shouldn't have done that." The more she says that, the more she tells us she doesn't understand why we're celebrating her birthday, the more I realize that she just doesn't feel important. She doesn't understand why anyone would want to do anything special for her or take any time out of their life for her. It's an interesting thing for me to see. I am a lot like her. It used to bother me that she was always like that, but now I just see it for what it is. It's probably what she has felt her entire life. I figure we'll probably never change the way she feels, but I think it's a good thing to have some time to try and make her understand how important she is.

So, tomorrow we'll be celebrating. Celebrating my mom, celebrating family, celebrating life, celebrating little miracles.

Happy Birthday Mom! :-) I am so incredibly grateful I can say that this year!