87 years young
Today, September 16th, 2024, is my mother’s 87th birthday and it is also our granddaughter’s 5th birthday! It is really special to be 87 today. It is really special to be 5 too.
This is not the topic I intended to blog about next, but seeing how I’m still working on my original topic and today is, well, simply special, this is today’s topic.
One may ask, “What does it take to achieve these milestones?” One word that comes to my mind immediately is – tenacity. Assuredly over nine decades, there have been moments that have been challenging; challenging to the point of being life-changing. Then, there always are those “bumps in the road”, as mother calls them. There are a few challenges of being five and having just started pre-school too; your older sister trying to be bossy and over protective because she has been there and done that before you.
Ask my mum, she will tell you it can be scary being her age. She has overcome so much through her life, issues that others might have considered as handicaps, but issues that my mother takes as just being part of life. Can’t help having your mind drift to the question, “What’s coming next?”. And for our granddaughter, with all of the pomp and ceremony, do you think the first day of school and all that is to come after, doesn’t scare the bejeebers out of most kids?
Today is a day, though, to celebrate achievements and landmarks in each of their lives.
In my historical fictional account of my 3rd great grandmother’s life, “Oh! Susannah”, I attempted to tell her story. It is a story of her achievements under trying conditions, and her achievements have been handed down through generations as gifts to me. In Susannah’s short 39-year stay here on earth, she achieved the milestone of instilling principles in her children, which lasted through their lifetime and beyond. As the reader discovers in the book, Susannah was tenacious, but also scared at times. Susannah was as special as these ladies who are celebrating their birthdays today.
I’ll close this blog by sharing portions of a message I received just the other day from a young lady I met on my book tour last year. A lot has happened in this woman’s life since I last saw her but she wanted to pass on the inspiration she has pulled from in reading Susannah’s story - “I think of Suzannah occasionally and how hard her (and so many others) lives had been. I’m just in awe that out of women throughout time and history, I get to be one who had a safe, emotionally supported birth, own and do business, rely on modern convenience to run my home, etc. Your book provided a lot of perspective for me – very humbling and very grateful for the strong women who have gone before us.” And may I add, thanks and congratulatory recognition to those who lead us forward.
Happy Birthday, you two! Can you pass me another piece of cake?