Grandma O At 90

My five siblings and I held a 90th birthday celebration for our mother on Saturday at a local assisted living center, where she lives. But Mom’s actual birthday is today. Not only did my mother raise us six kids properly, but she has been a widow for the last 39 years. She never dated after Dad was killed in a vehicle crash in October 1976. She has often said: Why should I date when I wouldn’t find a man as good as your Dad? Mom was 5 years old when her father died at the beginning of the Depression and almost orphaned. Her mother couldn’t speak English. The state was about to step in and seize the children when a 21-year-old half brother stepped in to help raise her and her two siblings. She never experienced material wealth eking out a living with my father on various northern California dairies. But I couldn’t help but think, as I looked across the room at my sibs and their children and grandchildren Saturday, that few women at age 90 are as rich as she is. Happy Birthday, Mom/ DFO.