Happy Birthday Mom
Scott Mclean
Happy Birthday Mom!
She would have been 92 today.
I got to spend 60 birthday’s with her and am very grateful.
Mom wasn’t the kind to want much for her birthday. Maybe a few dahlia bulbs or a rose or two.
My Dad was not able to cook very well and damned sure didn’t understand how to buy for Mom. One year he bought her this awful one piece lounging suit at Mode o Day. It was shiny blue, quilted, had bell bottom legs, and a neck to crotch zipper. The day she tried it on is the only time I think she ever wore it.
I finally dropped enough hints that he would get her a can of almond roca and take her to Farmer Pete’s nursery. I guess Dad owed me for bailing him out on cooking and shopping.
An old standby for Mom’s birthday was to load an ice chest with pop and pick up a barrel of chicken with sides at KFC. Mom always dug wings out for me. We would load everything and everybody in Dad’s old 57 Jeep (Same year as me!) and head for the hills. It might be Clemans and Bald mountain or possibly Bethel Ridge and Timberwolf. One trip up to Timberwolf, when they still had a lookout there, the road had big snow banks along it. The Ridgerunners Jeep club was up there. They were taking turns seeing how far they could go through the deep snow wide open. They would then be winched out. Great entertainment for us kids. Mom loved these Jeep trip birthday’s. We would go home and wash the dust off then plant whatever flowers Mom had gotten.
I always tried to buy her a new rose or flowering tree.
The last birthday adventure I had with Mom was our annual trip from the Wenas to Ellensburg. Her favorite Red Horse Diner was packed so I got her steak fingers from the Stop and Go. That was all she could ask for to make her happy and I cherish the memories.
As I’ve said before, spend time with your loved ones because you never know how much time you’ll have with them. Enough sentimental ramblings for now and I promise to have more memories of the ornery country family later.
Happy Birthday again Mom and bye for now.