milestone birthdays

I think the way you worded it here is just fine for the invitation. In addition, why not get an album to put them in? Give them some time, of course, to get them in.

I think that's a wonderful idea. My daughter did that for me, and all my sisters and some friends contributed to it. I don't look at it too often, but it's there.

She sort of did it as a "This is Your Life..." kind of thing.

Hi there,

I haven't hosted one but I recently attended two different 90th birthday parties. My parents-in-law effectively hosted both (first her mother turned 90, then his mother turned 90) so there were a lot of commonalities.

They put together a sort of a slide show, with a narrator who was knowledgeable about what was going on ("This was taken at the cabin in 1947") but then left a lot of room for the lady of the hour to interject her own observations and stories.

Microphones were used at both, a good idea if it will be a big crowd. We had at least two microphones available, one for the narrator and one for the honoree.

Your own wording looks great in terms of the invitation. (Your first paragraph.)

One other thing that happened at one but not the other was that favorite recipes from the honoree were gathered, with stories if applicable. ("The first time I made this was at a Thanksgiving dinner with 20 people in attendance, and I forgot to put in the eggs...") That was printed up into a little book, with photos, that was a really nice keepsake.

Also, a professional photographer was hired for the first one, and we got some nice group shots. It's a big family that doesn't get together in one place very often so that was nice.

To be more precise, they made a Powerpoint presentation (all photos though, no captions or graphics or whatever) and made sure that the venues they chose had appropriate equipment for displaying. They brought the laptop, then the venue (hotel for one, local college for another) provided screens, projectors, wires, microphones, etc.

Thanks, Mame. Your daughter made you feel special. I love that. My mum knows how much we love her, too, so it will be nice for that reason alone. We’ve discussed how to compile any contributions we do get…album most likely, though I’ve seen some pretty gorgeous memory boxes, too.

Thanks, soz. One of my brothers’ is an accomplished photographer. He’s flying in the day before and will bring some of his gear. I love the book idea (my nephew had one made of his Hawaii wedding " stunning, not too pricey either much to my surprise).

I’m not anticipating a huge crowd. More of an intimate event …twenty-five people max I’m thinking (unless folks fly in from all corners, but I doubt that), so no worries about mike's and the like.

I've seen some pretty snazzy powerpoints before. Hmmm.

Another idea, Joe... we did this for my mom's 70th ... my sister got photos of the family from way back to present and loaded them into a digital photo frame thing. If you could get people to email photos to you that'd be a wonderful gift for her. All her family and friends on a slide show

I've seen ads for them but I've never actually seen one, Mame. I'll check them out : )

When my mother turned 70 I got together a bunch of photographs and had people write up memories like you're thinking of doing. For the life of me, I cannot recall the wording. What I also did, was I wanted the album to be kinda funky and different so I Googled images of things she likes: birds, flowers, that sort of thing and got them all to a more or less uniform size. I cut up the scanned pics and put them in each corner of every page, so there was a bluebird and a red rose at the top, and maybe a little rainbow or a photo of a dog or something at the bottom. These were no bigger than one inch square so they couldn't have a lot of detail but they were a neat little touch that she really liked.

Jespah, right! We’ll need to compile things as thoughtfully as we can, according to her tastes. I wish I was more knowledgable and/or gifted in the computer art department.

Part of my dilemma is that I have some general sense about how I would like things to go, while my sister has louder, specific ideas. Any disagreement can be seen as a challenge and potential conflict in this arena can make my gut twist. Every event needs a main planner and I’ll follow her lead because she needs me too, and she certainly has more experience at this type of thing…but I want to flesh out some options before meeting with her later this week.

The clock’s ticking, too, I just counted, about nine weeks to pull it together. Eek.

Wrote this two weeks ago but got called away and didn’t post:

It’s close now. We’re meeting on Sunday afternoon to proof the book before ordering. It’s been a collective effort " but hours (and hours) of work, to scan and fix up and chronologically order the photographs. It’s going to be nice. I’m still working on the slide show, but that’s considerably easier now that the touch ups have been made on all those old photographs. We’ve a cousin who wrote a poem about her. It’s a little corny, but clever and sweet and though we’ve decided to keep captioning to a minimum, it might go in the book.

Apparently it’s possible to laser etch a photograph onto the disc without too much trouble at all, and I’m going to look into that a little further once I’m finished. Now that I know it can be done, I absolutely want that.

Relatives are coming from BC, Newfoundland, Winnipeg, Dryden, Ottawa, and her best friend of 57 years from N.J. Now just need the final sib from Fla. and my own rotten boy from Calgary. I find out on Monday. Let it be so.

I’ve booked four days off and thinking it might not be enough! So far I’ll be driving to the airport Friday, Saturday, Monday, and the following Saturday. Sister will be doing about the same. If I get the final two in, I hope I can schedule pick ups to coincide. I’ll need to get some blow up beds or something. I’m nervous! But not. It’s going to be fun!

And today’s update:

I have the book!

It’s…it’s…it’s…beautiful.

Sounds like all that work was worth it! Congratulations. May you have a wonderful, low stress time on the big day.

Tai, low stress that day shouldn't be a problem. I'm in charge of the booze.

Only kidding.

<snort> By all means get really relaxed then. It'll make for great stories at your own milestone birthday party!

Ahah! Too right.

~~~

We did end up asking for “how we met” stories and the like.

If anybody has a minute I’d appreciate some feedback on mine. I think it needs a little tweaking still. It’s meant to be spoken. Specifically, I’d like to know if I overused the asides, which I hope will be humorous. There is truth in all of them.

One remark first. Scott is very quiet, which everyone will know.



Mom and I really met when I was a baby. She’d given birth to me not long after she met my twin brother, who she’d delivered less than ten minutes earlier. Surprisingly, I really have no recollection of the event, though I must have known her intimately by that time, having invaded her body with my accomplice many months earlier.

No doubt we were an instant hit with our older brother and sister who must have secretly marveled that twin babies required such little attention.

We were, to all accounts, perfectly behaved even then, so I won’t recount the tedious details of the next 50 years except to say “Damn we were such good kids and never caused her any worry.”

You’re welcome, Mom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And most of her kids are brilliant. OK Mom, we’re ALL brilliant, in our own way… but I look at Kent who wouldn’t join MENSA (because they’re too boring) and Dale (who loves her children as fiercely as anyone I know), and Scott…the chatty one (who stole the heart of Margaret, our housekeeper), and I see so many of their fine attributes, and I know who should get most of the credit (or blame).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The years have flown, haven’t they? From soldering baby carriages… to management…certified graphologist, hobby business operator, and right up to her present position as a board chair, she’s done it all! She’s open minded, beautiful, funny, kind hearted, optimistic, and forgiving. She is now, and always has been, ahead of her time. Yes, my mom fights the good fight. She’s a fair, just and true warrior (did I say warrior? I meant worrier).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s hard to find the right words, you know?

I love her. I love you, Mom.

It’s as if Kahlil Gibran looked into my heart when he wrote that to love is “To know the pain of too much tenderness,” and there are times that I could weep at the beauty of that sentence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All of you are here today because you love her, too.

But Mom?

I know you love me best.

You can trust me, I won’t tell anybody.

Happy Birthday!

Oh I love it love it love it so much.

Me too! It brought tears to my eyes and I don't even know your Mom (or you for that matter). Joeblow, this is such a loving tribute to your mother, one can
easily see what a special, close-knit family you are.

Reading this made my day!

Wow. I can hear you. Your asides are 'you'.

You're such a good girl.

Thanks, jes, cjane and beth! The first drafts had me tripping over my tongue a bit and I was fretting some of it might be too... obvious, or something. Thank you for reading it.

beth - I'm thrilled you could hear me. You'll have an idea about the delivery then. And they'll all HAVE to listen 'cause it's mum's party. Heeeee.

A week today.

so how'd it go? you were the life of the party? thought so