On October 20th, my mama turned 60! I am not a very good gift giver.
However, I was killing time doing my new favorite past time, and came across this idea. This year has been tough for my mom with losing her dad (and little did we know that 6 days after her birthday we'd get the call that she needed to get to Idaho asap to sit next to her mama for 2.5 before she passed away.), and I wanted it to be SPECIAL. So, I decided to copy that idea to a tee.
The response was phenomenal. I think I ended up with 83 notes from 58 people. It was SO COOL. There were hand written notes and emailed ones. Pictures. Notes that had me crying and notes that had me giggling, alone in my kitchen.
Every single note was special. There were some from people my mom grew up with, and some from my friends now (who are her friends too.) My kids, and even Joel, wrote notes. The 'crown jewel' though, was from my mom's uncle, who wrote about the day my mom was born and the first time he saw her. He wrote about my Papa on that day even. Priceless.
It was freaking amazing.
I bought coordinating bright paper for the emailed notes and bright purple envelopes.
Once we sat down and got settled, Mom opened the cards the kids had made here. So sweet.
Then the card from me, where I told her about her other present, a weekend away with just me! We rarely do things just the two of us, so it was a rare treat for us both!
She was super surprised. And happy.
After that, I couldn't wait another moment. I was SO excited to give it to her! As soon as I pulled the stack on envelopes, my mom started to cry. In the first envelope I put the letter from me, with an explanation of the project. The second held the letters from Joel and the kids, and the third had the letter from my mom's uncle. We were both ugly crying before our cocktails even arrived, and we definitely made the waiter more than a little nervous!
Our dinner was so good, and my mom read her notes, one by one, as the evening progressed. The kids were so good, (Carter was a little freaked by all the crying), and they hung out on the outside deck for a little while.
When we were finally done at the restaurant, we decided to walk down to the ocean for a minute. It was getting late, but it was still so nice out.
My mom was only about halfway done with reading all the letters but when we got back to our house, I put the kids to bed and got in bed myself. She wasn't tired yet and I heard her for quite a while down stairs giggling and laughing as she read through the rest.
It was an awesome day. We had no idea, none, that a week later my Grammy would be in her last few hours, and I am so thankful that the timing was what it was so my mom could enjoy her day. Happy Birthday, Mama! I love you!
And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you who contributed!
1 comment:
What a COOL idea! My mom turned 60 in May of this year, and since I live so far away, I sent her a party-in-a-box complete with: good chocolate, tiara, pink star glow stick wand, good coffee, little birthday cake squeaky dog toy, 60th napkins, a beauty queen sash that said 60 AND FABULOUS!, noisemakers, etc. etc. I love this idea that you used!!! Thanks for sharing, and Happy Belated Birthday Pam!
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