My mother starts her 100th trip around the sun on April 27th, 2020. She has seen and done a lot in her 99 years. However this is her first time celebrating a birthday in the middle of a Pandemic.

At her age every birthday is a milestone. In previous years we would celebrate with her friends at the New Boston Historical Society.  There would be a cake with with two candles spelling  her age. We would sing the song as she blew out the candles. I was always a bit leery at children’s birthday parties as I watched a sneezing youngster blowing on the cake. I always made it a point to scrape off the upper layer of my  slice. Now I think we can dispense with the whole ceremony completely. Just light some candles on a plate.

This year in lock down, my sister arranged a virtual birthday party using the Zoom Video Conferencing application.  We had no technical glitches and it was great seeing my cousins with their families in several states. We sang Happy Birthday and share stories about my mom. There are a lot of stories to tell. It was too bad we couldn’t have virtual hugs with each other.

We asked Mom for some wise words and she responded that we should learn to “muddle through”.  She is understating this a bit. Most of her life has been pursuing excellence. Her life philosophy is probably best illustrated by the movie line “endeaver to persevere” which seems more fitting that mere muddling.

My sisters and I learned this lesson long, long ago.

Happy Birthday Mom, have a great day. I expect you’ll be spending a lot of time on the phone today with folks checking in. Enjoy the start of your 100th year.