My organizational skills are not great — I should have planned this for Chapter 103…

So what does one do when Mother turns 103?

Yepp, today my dear mother celebrated her 103rd birthday. They had a big party at the Long Term Care (LTC) facility in Cold Lake. It’s starting to be a bit repetitive I think. But it’s still good to get cake and have the media there. Goodness knows for years the press never darkened the door or any of the manses she lived in and until she got to be 99 the only big birthday she had was #77. As Dad died shortly thereafter, I think she felt it was not a good omen… But I digress. The original question needs an answer. Well, since I actually went to see her in December and celebrated her birthday and Christmas at that time (complete with good gifts), there really was no need to go to Cold Lake again today. Besides, LTC was doing a party, and a cousin had organized a bunch of telephone calls, and both my kids also were calling, and there is only so many hours in the day that Mom wants to stay awake for…

So I went skiing instead as I thought that was a particularly unique way to celebrate her 103 years. Oh a phone-call was made and a happy birthday song was sung and left on the voice mail. But the real celebrating was done on the slopes of Apex Resort. In her honour I did eleven [11] runs which translates into a little less than 5,000 Vm’s…the linear distance was 26.4 kms and the top speed was 65.7 km/hr. I think I am slowing down a bit this year but this was the fastest I’ve gone so far and also the most runs – sort of fitting as a celebration for a mother who in her school days raced horses and to my knowledge never lost… The day started off with misty freezing rain but that ended before mid-morning and while the sun didn’t fully break out, there would moments where everything looked golden. Again, somewhat symbolic for my mother as some days things are great and other days there are clouds inside and outside the LTC.

My super sister will give me a briefing on what all went on today sometime this week. I’m sure when I talk to Mom later in the week she too will give me some updates – it will be interesting to see how the two reports match up. But for now I am going to rest – if I happen to have even some of Mother’s genes, I need to be thoughtful about how I prepare for many more years on this planet (her father lived to 97 – but he retired from the ranch at 95, so who knows how long he might have lived if he hadn’t retired –> note to self, don’t retire any time soon – p.s. my banker actually has already told me I can’t retire any time soon anyway).

Oh, in case you are worried that I should have gone because I may not see her again – never fear, Mother’s Day is less than three months away – I’ll be in Edmonton teaching anyway, and the weather will be such that skiing won’t be an option at Apex…!!!