We celebrated Mamo's birthday on 8/13/10. For those of you who know me, you know how grateful I am to have her here with us. The heartrending horror of 4/26/10 still haunts me at times when I think how my life could have changed forever that day and instead of being with her on her special day, I could have been visiting a grave. You never know just how much you really love someone until you are face-to-face with reality of almost losing them. I am still amazed at my mom for being so calm over the phone telling me they were taking Mamo in for another TIA when I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think, all I could do was gasp for breath and sob in between saying, "Noooooooo..." I look back at that crazy drive to the hospital in between tears and sobbing, "God just can't take her now, He just can't" to my hubby who wisely knew I needed to drive because it would make me feel like I was doing something to help while breaking every speed law ever known to man. We talked about that day on Mamo's birthday and I mentioned how thankful I was that 4/26/10 ended up with a happy ending and my dad asked me how in the world I remembered the date...all I could say is somehow I just remember dates like that especially when it is tied to someone I hold very dear in my heart. I thank God every day for letting us have Mamo with us a little bit longer...I have had some very long talks with Him on the subject and have informed Him that He can leave her with us for a long time. I think it is a great plan...
My earliest memory is of Mamo and mostly all my childhood memories are of Mamo. She babysat me before I started school and then when I started kindergarten, she worked at the school I went to. We won't talk about the time she actually sent me to the Vice Principal's office for slapping a girl's face because she was being horribly improper and talking with her mouth full of food (I forgave Mamo, of course!). Instead, I like to think about how when I was three and four years old, my favorite thing was to play with cars (hot wheels) and build towns and roads in the dirt. I had a favorite place for doing this in her front yard under my swing. At times, I needed certain tools to help me dig my roads - what better than one of Mamo's big silver spoons? Of course, the silver spoons were perfect! Needless to say, one day Mamo came asking me, "Have you been using my big spoons?" "Yes, Mamo, I used it to build my road." "Oh, honey, please don't use Mamo's nice spoons to dig in the dirt!" :) I have a million such memories, each one better than the last. She has always been there from the moment I was born.
Mamo (Senior picture)
My grandparents on their wedding day, 1958
One of my favorites of Mamo and Mom (2005)For Mamo's birthday, the one thing I knew I had to do was make her a cake. She has watched me make dozens of cakes for other people since I always go to her house and she has even helped me a couple of times to get a certain flavor right. I decided I would go to her house and make her cake with her just to spend time with her. I let her pick the flavors, but I told her when I started decorating it, she had to go sit down in the family room. She was pretty happy with our plan because then she could get to taste during the baking process. There is something about cooking in Mamo's kitchen; for some reason, I never worry and I just know everything will taste great. I snapped the below picture while I was waiting for a cake to come out of the oven. Mamo is not really tech-savvy, but she figured out how to play checkers on Mom's iPhone just fine!
My dad clowning around waiting for the cakes to be done
Mamo's face when I showed her the finished product. I had made her cake heart-shaped and iced with whipped cream. I discovered I need to work on my freehand writing, but she didn't mind - that is the wonderful thing about grandmas! It doesn't show up in the pictures, but the cake was actually sparkling/glimmering because of some tiny pink sparkle sprinkles.
My homemade gift to her...Oh well, who cares how it looks right? It only matters what it tastes like!!
My little family not including Dad who was taking the picture and of course my hubby was cracking everyone up, but I do love this picture!
There is nothing better than a piece of cake just out of the oven and fresh. Mom took this of her first bite of banana-flavored cake with Bavarian cream filling. The funny thing is I couldn't take one bite because at the time I was on a diet and would you know, my family says it was one the best cakes I've ever made in my whole life?! Go figure!
Happy Birthday, Mamo!
