88 Years Today

Today is my mom's 88th birthday, and in honor of her amazingness, and how blessed we are to have her in our lives, I am posting some pics of her with people who love her absolutely. The photo above is her at age 17. What a beauty!


This one was taken at my cousin's home in Rockland County in the fall of 1986. My dad is being mischievous, tickling my mom with a pen. She, ever the lady, is ignoring him and putting her best face forward for the camera. That's my husband and me as newlyweds on the left (so very young!). I remember we all dissolved into laughter as soon as the camera shutter clicked.

A picture of the Stiebel siblings. These nine brothers and sisters have been, unabashedly, the love of each others' lives. This was was taken on my mom's 80th birthday at her birthday party at yet another cousin's art-filled home in Nassau. (With eight aunts and uncles on my mom's side and five on my dad's side, I have a lot of cousins!) Two of my uncles had passed away by the time this photo was taken. The third uncle, pictured here, died two years later. The girls are all still going strong. Sort of.

My husband, my mom, an aunt and my sister in law were on the front verandah of my aunt's home in Jamaica in December 2005. I love the way my mom's hand rests on my husband's arm, the easy love it conveys.

My mom attends to her oldest sister on her 91st birthday last September 7. This was taken before the party started and that's my cousin, the professor, who's my fellow power of attorney for my aunt. Another cousin called from Jamaica during the festivities, and my aunt, who struggles with getting words out, declared in a clear and steady voice that she was "19 today!"

I snapped this photo of my mom and my son on the afternoon last August that we drove him to college. My boy looks a bit pensive, but my mom was bursting with pride at the fact that her second-oldest grandchild was being launched. The scaffolds were all around our apartment building, as the brick exterior walls were being tested and regrouted, a major undertaking that continues even now. My mom, my daughter and I pretend the scaffolds are elegant porticos. We find them pretty handy when it rains or snows.

My mom and my daughter posed outside my cousin's home in Virginia last October. This was taken on Columbus Day, just before we all piled into the car for the drive back to New York. How I love these people!

Happy birthday, Mom! I thank God daily that you are mine.