On Turning 80.5

Just a few days ago we celebrated my mother's 801/2 birthday--or as my daughter put it, her 80.5 birthday.  Her 80th birthday was December 30th.  But we put off the big celebration so that everyone could get their without major weather concerns.  I have brothers who live in Nebraska and Michigan--places where, unlike sunny Florida, snow is a real issue!  So we converged on her home in Kentucky late in June and threw a big party for her.  There were over one hundred guests!

Mother isn't a native to Kentucky.  She moved there in the late eighties to take a teaching job at a small liberal arts college in the city of Barbourville.  Don't be misled by the word city--it's real a pretty small town, but it has a mayor and all the other requisites for a city government!  Despite being from away mother has made an impression--not just on the college, where she was a very beloved professor before her retirement several years ago, but also on the city itself.

She is very active in her church--one of the first women elders ever elected to that position by the congregation.  She serves as a regular liturgist, leads a women's Bible study and is cfhairing the Board this year.

She is a vital part of the local historical museum, serving as a proofreader for their publication, taking a weekly turn as docent, and filling the role of Secretary.

She is a member of the Tuesday Club, a traditional women's club, and hosts the meeting annually at her home.

At the age of seventy-five she thought it would be wise to take up a new pastime--she had read that the best way to stay mentally sharp was to learn something new.  So she started taking dulcimer lessons.  She is now a member of a dulcimer group (they played at her party!)--the Knox County Porch Pickers.  (I admit, I do tease her about the name!)

And she is a voracious reader--two or three hours a day she has her nose in a book.  She currently is pursuing an interest in patristics and Eastern orthodoxy, as well as reading Barbara Kingsolver's latest novel, Flight Behaviour.

Throughout my life, my mother as served as a role model.  And in her advanced years she is doing it again.  As I approach sixty this summer, I am grateful to know that eighty holds a great deal of promise as well!  Happy 80.5, Mom!