As Mother’s 70th birthday approached, I was having the hardest time trying to figure out what to get her.  I came up with a laundry list of ideas but none of them seemed right enough, big enough, special enough, etc.  It dawned on me one night that she had mentioned a few times over the last few months how she wished I could come to town sometime to just hang out.  At first, I felt like I already do that.  But, the more I thought about it, I realized that come to town in a flurry of activity and chaos.  My crew alone makes this standard practice.  We literally swoop in, eat everything in site, cram in 1,000 excursions or a major holiday, and then fly back out in what seems like the blink of an eye.  So, I talked to Honey and decided that maybe what I should do is just go to town.  I realized that it had been TWELVE years since I had been home alone.  And, also twelve years since they have come to visit me without the same sort of craziness as we get when I go there.  How in the world did twelve years fly by.  I was 30 the last time I did this.  And, it certainly wasn’t by design or intentional.  We just get swept up in our season of life, sometimes.  And, sometimes, we can spend a lot of time with our loved ones without really spending time with them.  If there is one thing I know in life, it is that time is the greatest gift and we never know how much, or how terribly little, we will get with someone.

I told Mother to make a list of allllll the things she wanted to do during my visit.  I left Atlanta before the sun came up yesterday and we had two nights and about two and a half days to do exactly as she pleased.

Well, most of yesterday was spent in “iPhone 101” class because Mother and Daddy-O have finally moved on from the flip phones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  After staring at them on their coffee table for a week (I kid you not) they finally turned them on right before I arrived.    I will say that this experience with my two students was ummmm…. hmmmm….. memorable, I think :-).  We joked, laughed, face timed my aunt and uncle, set up email, took photos, tried out selfies, texted Sister and about 100 others, learned all about emojis, got Facebook and Instagram, listened to a podcast, plugged in the chargers and headphones, and so on and so forth. Whew!

Afterwards we celebrated with champagne punch, hung plate and pictures, fawned over her new cat Watson, and just talked.

That night we went to The Pink House for the birthday eve dinner.  It is one of our family’s favorite restaurants in Savannah and a birthday tradition for Mother.  We had a wonderful, delicious and memorable meal.  <3

We were up bright and early this morning, Mother’s big day, to make the most of our time.  We had coffee, then Paris tea and biscuits and then Daddy-O acted as our Uber driver and took us all over town to Mother’s favorite shops!!  It was a truly wonderful day.  I will share all the details tomorrow because this is getting long and I want to say this….

I am SO incredibly thankful and blessed to have these two as my parents.  They were self made and made every decision from the day I was born until long, long after we were gone  from their nest for the benefit of my sister and me.   It is not lost on me that they changed careers to be home with us when we were little, worked multiple jobs when they had to in order to provide for us when we were older, never went on a trip without us their entire lives until just a few years ago, rushed home at the end of long days to take us to dance, spent every Friday night watching us cheer, and so on and so forth.  Beyond that, they held us to the very highest of standards – morally, in school, at home, and in pretty much every thing we did.  Yet, they believed in us, let us know they were proud of us, and unconditionally loved us.  I have had the most marvelous role models in life and pray that I can do a fraction of the things right in raising my boys that they did right in raising their girls.

And, since this is Mother’s special day, I also want to say that I hope I am as beautiful, bright, selfless, energetic, fun and creative as she is when I grow up.  I say all the time that I can’t believe that God chose me to be mommy to John and Whit.  I don’t say enough that I also can’t believe that God chose me to have a mom like Mother.  I must be the luckiest girl in the world.  <3

Happy seventieth, Marme.

DIXIE DELIGHTS DELIVERED
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