Mom and the state of Oregon share their birthdays with Valentine's Day. I'm not sure how the state of Oregon did when it came to blowing out its 159 candles, but getting Mom to blow out 3 had me and The Other Girl in stitches.
Did you notice Mom's two new versions of a smile in the video? The first one, she squeezes her eyes shut and compresses her mouth. We're not quite sure where that comes from as we are always on the other side of the camera grinning like idiots to get her to mimic us. Instead we get an I Dream of Jeannie atrocity flashing across her face. Maybe she's trying to blink us away? (She's always been camera shy.) Maybe she's conjuring up Major Nelson in our stead? He is certainly much more handsome than us, although I think she'd tire quickly of his frantic attempts to bottle her up.
The last "smile" is entirely new. A come-hither bite of the finger? How... what... why? Well, whatever current version of a grin she give us makes us chuckle every time.
Her birthday week included a birthday haircut from her sister Butchie (nickname acquired before Butchie became a hairdresser), a visit to her sister Anita, a salmon pre-birthday dinner at her sister Becky's house with her husband John pouring a lovely red wine quite freely, and my sister making us a delicious shrimp pasta for Mom's official birthday dinner. Actually, Mom was so-so about the pasta, but the rest of us gobbled it up.
Then we surprised her with the above chocolate cake. (Chocolate cake = slam dunk every time.) Mom's birthday week will finish up with her two best friends making her a catered lunch next week. She's enjoyed the festivities, with some bouts of anxiety, but mostly it's just been wonderful to have so many of our friends and family celebrate 79 years of this goofy, funny, fretful, wonderful woman who is our one and only
mother.