Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom makes a wish (or two or three?).

Happy 66th Birthday Mom! 

Birthday balloons from Jeannine.

In addition to celebrating Mother's Day over the weekend, we also celebrated Mom's birthday. Didn't Jeannine do a great job with the balloons? :) The best part was when Mom spotted Jeannine walking down the street towards our house with these HUGE balloons. At first, Mom saw the balloons and thought: "Hmmmm, someone in the neighborhood must be having a birthday." Then she realized they were moving, and that Jeannine was carrying them! :)

Jeannine and her Mama S.

Jeannine came over on Saturday evening for a wonderful dinner of fresh local asparagus, shrimp and scallops, and a wild rice salad. We had chocolate truffles from the market for dessert. After dinner we got out for a little StRoll.

Me and the birthday girl.

I was struggling a bit Saturday evening to get through the 'party', but we still had a lovely time celebrating with Jeannine (aka Mom's second daughter).

Usually, I push myself really hard to try to get gifts and cards together for Mom. This year, I used all of my energy towards time with Mom and we ended up having a lovely, low-key, low-stress, and fun weekend together. Mom is always encouraging me to let go of the gifts and cards and notes, but it somehow feels like a failure on my part not to do these things for her. It pains me to have to make the choice between energy for dinner or energy to make a card. It was really hard for me to let go of the unrealistic expectations I place on myself, but in the end we had such a great celebration that worked for both of us.

Me and my bestest friend.

After Mom turned 65, she seemed to have one medical problem after another, and this past year has been a really difficult one for mom with the heart attack, bleeding ulcer, and major pain from her stenosis. Jeannine joked that maybe her warranty had expired and perhaps she needed a new one. Our greatest hope for Mom this year is that she will have two successful spinal surgeries and ultimately better health (i.e. a renewed warranty!).

Flower planting (with help from Asher) on Mother's Day.

For Mother's Day, Mom got her favorite thing: a perfect day weather-wise. We spent the afternoon outside. Mom filled the pots with potting soil and I did the planting/design. We make a good team! As you can see from the photo, Asher didn't want to miss out on the action either. 

Checking out the fruits of my labor and enjoying the day.

Since dinner on Saturday, Mom and I have been packing in the fun before her big cervical fusion surgery on Tuesday May 17. 

Over the weekend I think I finally turned the corner post port removal (fingers crossed), and started to be able to enjoy things again. We had a birthday dinner with Jeannine, flower-planting and sitting outside on Mother's Day, a trip to the arboretum on Monday, and a trip to the Farmer's Market on Tuesday.

After a Spring filled with rainy dreary days, we are now enjoying the benefits of all of the rain: one of the most glorious Springs ever. To top it off, we have had perfect weather this week to enjoy our outings.

It has felt good to unplug a bit, spend some time with Mom, enjoy some time outside (new allergy meds from Dr. Complex seem to be making this possible!), and finally feeling like I can engage in life a bit again. 

I plan to write a blog post in the next couple of days with the details of the cervical fusion surgery and what it entails. 

Blessings,

Emily