Eighty-one

She's survived the Great Depression, World War II, Korea, the Cuban Missile crisis, race riots, rock'n'roll, Vietnam, Watergate, the loss of a husband, and the shenanigans of three boys adept at circumventing her every command. She's witnessed the advent of jet engines, expressways, commercial air travel, television, air conditioning, cordless phones, VCRs, the Pill, and space travel. She's traveled around the nation, around the continent, and around the globe - and even made the long journey from being a Nixon Republican to a Clinton Democrat without ever breaking a sweat.

God bless her for that.

Today she celebrates 81 years of joy and pain, education and experience, growth and change, spread over the calendar divide of two millennia. Today she celebrates 81 years as an eyewitness to the steady advances and horrific mistakes of human society during a tumultuous century. Today she celebrates 81 years of a life well lived.

What an amazing journey it must have been so far - and it's faaaaaaar from over! Happy Birthday, Mom. Just don't lean too close to all those damn candles...