My mother is 80 years old. She is 4 foot 10 inches and as she says, back to her fighting weight of 105 pounds. Note that her mother, my grandma Amelia at almost 80 years old was 4 foot 10 inches and 205 pounds. Both very formidable yet warm, funny, and individual in their own way.

My mother is old school and I love that about her. It can be frustrating because she has no answering machine and she is not tech savvy, but she loves her iPhone for texting the kids and following the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Recently she asked me if I could take some old bills and papers to the shredder. I went to her house early one morning and took about 15 pounds of paper wrapped up in old bags. When I got home and sorted the materials to bring to the shredding company, I came across 5 old Mead Day Planners. As long as I can remember, my mother has kept a Mead weekly planner near her phone. Here she calendared the weather of the day, the kids sporting events, holiday plans, to-do items and family activities in general. There were drawings, in color, of  Fourth of July flags, Halloween pumpkins, Christmas trees and Valentine hearts.

I paged through the books and I instantly began reliving those years via her penciled in notes. You can imagine my reaction. Let me share some of these entries with you.

January 13, 2007- “Baby girl is here!!! ANABELLA.”

March 10, 2007- “Turn the clocks ahead.”

June 20, 2008- “Summer arrived 7:59 pm!”

July 25, 2008- “1^st Rose of Sharon on the bushes.”

December 11, 2008- “ In the house 36 years today!”

September 11, 2010- “Pray for 9/11 victims and families.”

October 1, 2011- “Me. Born. 2 pm” (its her birthday.) We met her in church for mass that night and she must have later written, “Family at Church. Surprise! Wonderful.”

October 1, 2015- “Powder puff football. Went to see A.R. (Amelia). Rainy and cold.”

November 14, 2015- “Jack wisdom teeth out. Went to see Jack sleeping.”

Sprinkled in these worn old planners were reminders of library books due, masses for old friends no longer with her, and funny posts about the kids going to a party or game. She logged in every school snow day and the duration of many walks she took.

The kids always call her and ask her to pray when they have exams. Each and every request is booked, done, and checked off as such.

What a gift I received in a bag of old things to be shredded. I cannot really explain more. I hope you can feel what I am trying to convey to you. For those of you who have lost your mother, I hope you have something to hold on to that gives you joy and a smile.

I am sure I drive my children crazy, matter of fact, I know I do but guys, I too have these thoughts and feelings for you and although I am not even close to ‘Grammee level” I love you both and I miss you like crazy. These posts will one day be my legacy to you as you read my thoughts about you, dad, and our family life experiences in general.

I try not to embarrass you, but what’s the fun in that? xoxoxo