Mother's Ninetieth

On January 26, I hosted a 90th birthday party for my mother, Theodora Jordan.  Her birthday was actually on January 7, but I couldn’t get everything together until later.  She was in fine spirits that day.  She battles a form of dementia that severely limits her short term memory, but she is very lucid and capable of carrying on a good conversation as long as she doesn’t have to remember a lot of things to do it. 

The funniest thing that happened had to be when Jenny, my sister from New York, tried to fix Mother’s hair.  After a few minutes, Mother reached up and yanked the new “do” down and slicked it back again.  She said it bothered her and she had no idea that Jenny had just fixed it up for her.  Jenny got perturbed and did it over again.  A few more minutes passed and Mother did the same thing.   Up went the hair again.  Down went the hair a third time.  After that, Jenny gave up.  It was a scream.  These days, Mother’s priority in life is to feel comfortable.  Dressing fit to kill—-which is what she was known for all of her life—-was no longer comfortable.  At ninety years old, she doesn’t worry abut impressing anyone.

 I was so grateful for all the people who came.  Family members who came were Jenny Teets, Vicky and Joe Carpenter, Joe and Sherri Carpenter (and Joshua), Angela and Jay Jones (and Kelsea), Cindy and Rodney Clark, plus my gang of Ryan and Megan Jordan (and MaKinzie), Ross, Rene, and my wife Sandy and me.  Jonathan Perry, a great nephew, came by.  Several church members who visit my Mother on a regular basis also came.  Although Mother did not remember the party after she went back to her room, we remember and it meant so much to us.

Other than the mental issues, Mother seems to be healthy.  She falls occasionally and she has bouts with depression because she wants to go home.  Her home was sold two years ago and all her possessions were liquidated.  She has no recollection of this however, so she often expresses her desire to go back to Jackson.  This is one of the sad realities we have to deal with now.  I’m just glad that I can have her about five minutes away from me in these sunset years.

Any friends or family who want to send a card or letter should follow through.  Mother will enjoy it over and over.