Happy Birthday to Carlene!

It’s the fire in my eyes,   

And the flash of my teeth,   

The swing in my waist,   

And the joy in my feet.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally

(from Maya Angelou's "Phenomenal Woman")

When a woman grows older, certain markers are inevitable--the hair turns gray and sometimes the body shrinks an inch or two.  Wrinkles may--or may not--appear.  An ailment or two  may show up.

My mother turns 96 today.  Based on photos from Bob and Jocelyn, she is still as ageless as she was the last time we were together--Christmas of 2019.  But she's the only person I know who is up early every single day.  When I call her, she's either walking or reading or "just sitting here listening to music." 

On road trips, we always stopped in little galleries, shops, and cafes.  As we talked to people we met, she loved to drop her age into the conversation.  "I'm only 92," she'd say with that fire of mischief in her eyes--because we both knew what was coming: widened eyes and "Wha-a-a-a-t????  You can't be!"

Before her accident 3 Christmases ago, she drove to Athens and Perry whenever she felt like it; now--due to COVID and all--she mostly drives around Lawrenceville--to the grocery store and church and "Mission Impossible"--my daddy's name for the beauty shop.

Her hair's been a beautiful solid white for decades, but thanks to Mimi's genes and Pond's Cold Cream, she has pretty skin and has managed to hold most ailments at bay.  When people ask her, "How do you do it?" she  tells them "an orange a day," or "gratitude," or "growing up on a farm and eating organic...."

She's had a pacemaker for nearly 20 years and she had her appendix removed as a child, but mostly she has all her original parts. Her 96-year-old knees  still squat! She puts drops in her eyes every night and her recent glaucoma report was excellent.  

We look forward to a post-COVID time when we can get back on the road again--when she can come here and I can go there.  But we keep our cell phones humming along in the meanwhile and "play like" we're together in the same room.

Happy Birthday to my energetic, optimistic mother (and friend)--who makes aging look easy!