Happy Birthday Mom

How many April Fools jokes she had to endure, how many times I would jump up and down and say with such convincing excitement that there was a big delivery truck in the driveway (apparently that was the most daring thing I could come up with), how many times she would eagerly look out the window while I giggled in the background…thanks, Mom. Thanks for it all.

My mother was born in 1909 and died in 1993. I wish she were still here, but that would make her 105, and what would be the point of that? What I wish is that she were here in all of her different ages. In her twenties, for instance, when these pictures were originally taken, so I could know that vibrant young woman who made all her own very fashionable clothes and seemed to have such a sense of fun.

This is a photo of a small handmade accordion book I created with a sequence of photos of her from high school through her wedding day.