My mom is a fascinating and extraordinary woman. I could tell many stories, but one more time I am scheduled to get a short night of sleep and I can not type enough for them all.

Suffice it to say she grew up on a farm in SE Minnesota, without electricity, with a party telephone line,  a pump house to pump/carry water, a wood stove for heat, and an outhouse. All this in a community of 430 or so people, most of them Norwegian. Where everyone was in the same situation for the most part, no big deal.

Mom went after a teaching degree and got one, in spite of dyslexia and the fact that she was legally blind without glasses until high school. She is brilliant at teaching reading. Colleagues are fond of saying “Liz can teach a rock to read.” I tend to believe they are very close.

Mom taught school before I was born, before she married my father. She loved teaching right away. For a handful of years she raised us and did not teach in a school. However, she went back to teaching when I was in 4th grade. She was widowed at age 38, with two young teens. Here she is with her two “kids” at either side, at Matthei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor, a few weeks ago.

LynnH, Mom, Eric, Fred at Gardens

She and Fred win ballroom dancing medals (lots of them). She rides her bike to exercise class at the mall, usually twice a week. She is a tough cookie, not one to complain much and always full of hope.

And she’s my mom. We almost lost her to cancer about 12 years ago. After losing Daddio in 1973, we really know how lucky we are to have her around.

Mom’s beau of over 20 years, Fred, took her to the Grand Canyon for her 75th birthday. I left her a voice message (sang her the birthday song) on his cell phone, but she was too busy to call back. This is a cool story, I think.

Mom and Eric, Birthdays 2009

Here is a photo of Mom next to my brother Eric, blowing out birthday candles together a few weeks ago. We celebrated both of their birthdays together, though they are 5 weeks apart.

Mom, you rock. Happy, happy birthday!

Related posts:

1. Happy Birthday, Twice.
2. Happy Birthday, Mom!
3. Happy Birthday to The Love of My Life!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 12:17 amand is filed under Relationships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.