A Happy Birthday

Mom claimed to have E.S.P., you know. Often, she would "have a feeling" about something even if we were very careful about keeping information from her...especially information that would cause her to worry. Sometimes I deliberately wouldn't tell her that Hannah was en route from Johnson City after dark or in the rain. She "knew" it, anyway.

Because of this extraordinary psychic talent, Mom was really hard to surprise. "Mom" and "surprise" didn't even belong in the same sentence until her birthday last year...exactly one year ago today. At the last minute, the 5 of us conspired to...well...surprise her...with a new TV for her bedroom. She'd been pondering a new one for quite some time, but putting off the decision for some reason. Eventually, everything on the screen had a delightful red tint to it. We couldn't stand it any longer even though she brushed it off. I suppose we had it in our minds that it was adversely affecting her reality television experiences in some way. At the last minute...only days before her birthday...Fred had the brilliant idea of biting the bullet on mom's behalf. He suggested it and the rest is "Mom was actually surprised" history. Everybody was on board...there wasn't time for hints or leaks or a "feeling"...we all (except Andrew & Kristi, of course...and I think maybe Lucy wasn't there) gathered for Mom's birthday and brought in only a simple small gift bag with a remote control inside of it. Once Mom pulled out the remote, I think she was actually more shocked than anything that we pulled one over on her. That, really, was the best part. Of course, she was thrilled with the new TV--without red tint and a slightly bigger screen than the old one. It made us happy to make Mom happy...triumphant to have surprised her. That may have been the only time ever.

She would have been 70 today. Happy Birthday, Mom.