my first birthday, may 26, 1950 .. my mother’s 23rd.

76 years ago in the maternity ward of St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach, CA, at 5:19pm, I slithered from my mother’s womb, took my first breath, and likely let out a high pitched cry. It was my mother’s 22nd birthday, and I’m not sure spending the day in labor with me was the greatest way to celebrate, but the years that followed were cause for many shared glasses of champagne.

76 years ago, she paired my life to hers on that special day in May. I thought I was one of the luckiest girls to share my mother’s birthday, and every year, with a very few exceptions, we found our way, one to the other, to sing the birthday song, blow out candles, and eat cake.

I understood from a very early age, that the joy we shared, would someday be mine alone, and that in all likelyhood, when my mother passed away, the day would no longer be cause for unabated joy. But year after year, Mom hung in there, survived a heart attack and quadruple by-pass, and religiously worked her physical therapy and changed her lifesytle.

And so for 64 years of her life and mine, the 26th was our special day. Mom left me in 2014, the empty space for a long while, unbearable. And birthdays? I’d just as soon as they disappeared.

But this year, after finally settling from my move to Baja, I can see and hear her in the waves and in the sea. I can feel her watching .. smiling .. reminding me to remember everything that mother-daughter love can hold, and that no matter the distance, she always lives inside of me.

So I raise a glass to you tonight Mom! Happy heavenly birthday!