Saturday was my great-aunt’s 90th birthday party. My mother was hesitant to have a party at first but I insisted that we never know when we’ll get another chance to do something like this.

My aunt is more like my grandmother than my aunt. In fact, both of my grandmothers are jealous of her. But she was the one who treated us like grandkids. She knew all of our favorite snacks, we had a room at her house, our bikes were stored there. Matter of fact, when I introduce her to people or talk about her I often just call her my grandmother.

She has always been the biggest ball of energy! When we were little, we’d come home from hanging out with her and need a NAP while she’d still be going strong. Age has slowed her down but she still has a great attitude and a wonderful sense of humor. It’s sometimes painful to see her memory gone (she has Alzheimers) but it is a real blessing to have her in my life.

I ended up doing the bulk of the work for the party. Decorations, cake, caterer, invitations were all my responsibility. My mom just had to receive the rsvps. My mom is a bossy little broad but she let me handle things. We get to the party location 3 hours early (her timeline) and she was getting on my LAST good nerve. I wanted her to meet Coach but he had another engagement in the afternoon and the timeline my mother was working on was just plain DUMB. She hadn’t clarified it until the day of or I would have informed her that the timeline was DUMB. But anyway… I was getting frustrated with her so I went outside to call Coach to tell him that he didn’t need to come to the party afterall. He could hear the frustration in my voice so he stopped what he was doing to reassure me and calm me down. He just doesn’t know how much I appreciated that.

The birthday lady had a fabulous time at her party! Of course she kept asking how old she was (short term memory is totally gone). About 50 people came and we had a TON of food. My mom was getting ready to say the grace and my aunt shouted out that she wanted to pray. That was the most beautiful thing I have seen in a long time. It was such a touching moment to hear her thank God for all that she has and for all of the people in her life. Just that moment was worth all the hassle of the day.

I believe in giving people their flowers while they can appreciate them. So if there is someone you love who you have not been in touch with lately, take a second to say hello and let them know that they mean the world to you.