(Read this title to the tune of: “Shave and a haircut, two bits”.)

Yesterday was Mum’s 100th birthday. I started this post on her birthday, but came up empty handed looking for just the right picture of her to illustrate my point. My mistake was that I thought it would be easier to search the digital world for the picture, and after 2 hours I gave up. That futile attempt in turn left me, like so many years before this one, offering a belated greeting.

Found the picture I wanted today. I was just getting ready to upload her digitized senior picture, which I decided would have to suffice, when the power went off………hmmmmmmm. Went upstairs to search through my bins and boxes for this picture and it was easy to find……took all of 5 minutes……a quick scan later and here it is.

Mum had naturally coal black hair, it was so striking. Here is that picture – mighty beautiful, right?

In later years, that coal black hair started to have some gray in it……..and that’s when her hair cut appointments started lasting a bit longer. We all decided it was pretty funny that when her hair got a bit shorter, it also got all black again.

I looked in the mirror two days ago, and decided that I had let my hair go for as long as I could stand. Growing it out and braiding it no longer works for me it turns out. So I called the lady who helps me keep it brown and made an appointment. When I realized I was gonna get a Mum haircut on her birthday, I just had to smile.

So on Mum’s birthday, I got a Mum haircut – the “beautician” took some length off and blended out some of the gray……..it came out pretty nice. It was wonderful to realize I was going to celebrate her memory by following in her footsteps at the “beauty parlor”.

Then I started thinking, what might she have been up to today? I bet if hair matters up there, hers is coal black again. Turning 100 is a pretty big deal………maybe it’s an even bigger one in heaven. I imagine they don’t close down the Dairy Bar in heaven after Labor Day – I think Dad might have taken her for an orange pineapple soft serve cone yesterday while they talked about stuff and watched all the souls go by. Is that a fun image or what?

Here is a song that reminds me of how fortunate we are to still be here on this earth………..and how cool it will be to one day meet again. I am pleased to admit that this song works for so many reasons, and I am happy to use it again so soon. Great song, great idea, lovely image………makes me smile through a couple happy tears.

Happy Belated Birthday Mum!