Birthday-palooza

The summer months are always filled with birthdays in our family. My dad’s entire immediate family, except his oldest brother, have August birthdays, along with another aunt of mine, the Webmaster’s aunt and uncle, and now Baby Boy. And that doesn’t even count three wedding anniversaries in the same month! July is nearly as full, and this week exemplifies that.

My brother-in-law, Oddball, celebrated his birthday on the 4th, and everyone lit off fireworks in his honor. Actually, Little Cousin’s Mommy made him a cheesecake (his favorite dessert).

My mother’s birthday is on Monday. I have a young mother – she’s only 20 years older than I am. We’re all going out to lunch with my grandmother that day. I hope the kids behave – this is a restaurant I’ve never been to.

Today, however, we are celebrating the Webmaster’s grandmother’s birthday. This is her 92nd birthday. Over the last two years, she has been in declining health, and the last few months have been especially hard. She is suffering from congestive heart failure, but neither is she actively dying. As my mother’s former boss (a doctor) once put it, she has a case of the “dwindles” – she is slowly dwindling away. She has been in a family-run nursing home since the Munchkin was an infant, and it is probably the main reason why she has lasted this long. Her ability to care for herself was rapidly declining, but she would not leave her home (which the Webmaster’s grandfather built for them). It took a very severe case of food poisoning, which landed her in the hospital, to get her into this nursing home and out of her solitude.

There are just no words to describe the joy that she gets out of our kids. She has six great-grandchildren, but ours are the youngest of the bunch. She absolutely adores them, and could watch them scamper about for hours on end. Luckily, the kids are willing to oblige.

The odds on her making it to her 93rd birthday are very slim. Her doctors honestly didn’t think she’d make it to today. I will consider us blessed if she makes it to Christmas. She’s got a strong constitution, having been raised as a pioneer in a small logging town, so I have learned to never underestimate her willpower and strength of character.

So, today we will celebrate and be happy that here, now, she is still with us. And the kids will celebrate and be happy, because there will be cake. Someday, they will learn what a remarkable woman their great-grandmother was, but for now, they will just spend their time brightening up her birthday with their very presence.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 7th, 2006 at 12:30 am and is filed under Family.
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