My mother would be 106

Today (US time) is my mother’s 106th birthday. It’s still hard for me to focus on much, including birthdays, but I do try. Sometimes, trying is all I can manage. Like this year. Again.

Last year I said:

I don’t have much to add to what I’ve said in previous years (see the list of those posts below), not because I don’t have anything to say, nor because I don’t want to, but simply because I find it hard to focus on much of anything. Maybe next year will be better?

A lack of focus is still true, and this year I even forgot that in 2019 I said, “I realised it’s actually more appropriate to talk about her birthday on what was the date she experienced, not a day earlier as I’d done on this blog.” Even now, I still don’t know if that’s what I was really thinking at the time, or if it was an excuse or something. Besides, ever since my first birthday in New Zealand, I’ve celebrated my birthday over two days: The day it arrives here, and continuing on until It passes the place of my birth. The reality is that I think about the birthdays of everyone I know when the date arrives here, which is a day early for friends in Europe or the USA. Actually, Facebook does the same thing, reminding me of someone’s birthday when the date arrives here, in my timezone, and not on the date it arrives where the person lives. This situation is confusing under the best of circumstances, but add in my lack of focus and general forgetfulness, and it means that I miss more birthdays than I remember.

Still, I try to make sure I remember her birthday every year, including the past few years when I’ve had so much trouble remembering lots of things. Sometimes, trying is all I can manage. Like this year. Again. Maybe that’s not such a small gift under the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Happy Birthday, Mom, and thanks. Always.

Previous birthday posts:
My mother would be 105 (2021)
Remembering my mother’s birthday in 2020 (2020)
Remembering my mother’s birthday in a new life (2019)
Still remembering my mother’s birthday (2018)
Remembering my mother’s birthday (2017)
My mom would be 100 (2016)
Mom at 99 (2015)
Remembering my mother (2014)
Mom’s birthday (2013)
Mom’s treasure (2012)
Remembering birthdays (2011)
That time of year (2009)
Memories and words (2008)

Related:
Tears of a clown – A 2009 post that’s still one of my favourites about my mother.