Carlene's birthday almost always coincides with the first day of school. Watching the children of Cambridge Elementary file in, all scrubbed and dressed, most of the girls wearing big bows in their hair, everyone carrying brand new back packs, I was thinking of how different it was when Carlene set off for first grade in 1930.
At least one in every first grade class will probably be in tears. I even heard on NPR that there's a Boo Hoo meeting for the parents of first graders in the Southside district this morning--though I must say, the parents of the kids walking to school this morning looked rather happy. Sebastien came over last night and announced that this was his first day of second grade and he was so excited.
Carlene was the first grader who cried--but she was also the first grader who couldn't stop talking. She got to sit in Miss Tingle's lap until she could be quiet, and she loved that special attention. Little Talker Carlene got to ride the school bus from the farm to Perry and meet new friends and learn to read--the latter two she has continued loving all her life.
Today she is a vibrant 90-year-old who remembers her childhood and growing up years like they were yesterday. People stop us when we're together (and her when she's out running around by herself) to comment on her apparent agelessness and ask her how she stays so young. She tells them, "Gratitude." She lives a life of gratitude for everything, big and little--for her 57-year marriage to my dad, for her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, for her many friends, for phone calls, trips, books, a beautiful yard, and good health. She radiates joy.
She also has good genes and started life on organic farm-grown food. She walks three miles a day. She laughs a lot. She loves learning, and she does the crossword puzzle every day. My favorite of her two life-mantras: "Everything is tuition," and "People are different."
Her friends at church wanted to give her a big birthday party, but she declined. So what's happening is that she has no empty dates on her calendar. Her birthday is being stretched out into a month of lunches and dinners with friends in ones and twos and threes.
She and my daddy used to sing together all the time--in the car and at church. I'm listening this morning to blue grass gospel music on Pandora and can sing along with every song, remembering how their voices harmonized as they sang. My daddy was always so proud of Carlene (he called her Carlotta)--and would be happy to know that she's who she is at ninety!
By the time she opened her gifts from me, she had talked to five people already--and calls keep coming in. She's loving her 90th birthday, and I'm loving her, today and every day.
We will celebrate with Day in October with a mountain retreat in Georgia for all three of our birthdays. Carlene is a force of nature I celebrate every day--so alive and generous and loving. I'm so grateful to get to have her for a mother and friend!
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