Tonight I ate Chinese food, like I have done every January 14 for the last 15 years. And to explain why here is a vintage post of mine from The Crochet Dude blog:
Eleven years ago today I was in Michigan staying at the home of one of my sisters-in-law. I had worked the night shift in Dallas, TX the day before so was a bit jet-lagged from the trip, time change, and shift change. My brother Don who lives in Nevada, picked me up late that afternoon and we headed to a little Chinese restaurant in small-town USA, the kind that has a big red plastic happy lucky kitty to greet you at the door. When we went in Mom was seated at a table with all her “local” kids, no doubt wondering why there were a few extra chairs at the tables that had been pushed together.
When she looked at us you could see that it didn’t register who we were, like when you see yourself in the mirror and think “who the heck is that – sure looks familiar though”. Then it dawned on her that her out of town kids had descended upon west Michigan to celebrate today, her birthday. And through the cries of joy and hugging and laughter we all knew that something very special was happening. We don’t celebrate birthdays in our family, so she could not have known that we had been planning this surprise party for her for months.
Nor could we have known that that would be our last chance, since she passed away just a few months later. Happy I’m sure that she got to see 7 out of her 8 kids together for the first time in 15 years. (I’m sure that one that didn’t make it regrets it to this day.)
So tonight, as I have every January 14th since, I’m going to celebrate Mom’s birthday at a local Chinese restaurant. You know, the one with the big red plastic happy lucky kitty at the door.
How precious! Thank you for sharing.
OH MY GOSH, crying happy tears for you that you have such a great memory to cherish. Happy Birthday, mom! ?
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
Drew, that was beautiful….family is important….if not perfect!❤??