50 Years of Memories

A few weeks ago,

my lovely mother turned 50

which is a huge deal,

because it's 50

but also because it's a birthday 

and my family loves birthdays/holidays/any reason to celebrate something.

Mom's birthday falls smack dab in the middle of college football season

and usually around the same weekend as Parent's Weekend.

So, since I started college (6 years ago say wha?) 

we've always kind of mashed up mom's birthday, football tailgating, 

and Parent's Weekend into one big, full weekend.



Remember this?

This year wasn't much different and we all spent that Saturday in Raleigh tailgating

at the NCSU football game.

There was cake and beer and corn hole.

And we won, which doesn't always happen

so overall, it was a birthday success.

That Sunday after we got back in New Bern 

we had a big dinner at mom's house 

and exchanged presents.

Disclaimer: I love giving presents, 

but usually suck at it. 

I try really hard to find the. perfect. gift. for everyone

and occasionally I'll stumble across just what I'm looking for.

My mom, however, has never opened a gift she doesn't like.

Seriously, you could wrap a pile of poo in a pretty box and she would love it and you forever.

It's one of the things that makes her such a good mama.

I knew we needed to do something special for mom's 50th birthday.

It's a huuuuuuge milestone after all.

I saw this thing on Pinterest, duh,

where you collect pictures and stories from family and friends

and put each one in an envelope to create "years of memories".

Naturally, I loved the idea, 

but completely forgot about it until like the week before mom's birthday.

I spent the entire week contacting everyone I could think of 

in every way I could think of 

asking for one memory or story of my mom.

It was the coolest things.

I got some of her close friends to spread the word

so I could reach as many different people as possible

and it was so neat to see the emails coming in,

not only because of the memories they contained

but because of the people they were from.

I, obviously, think my mom is amazing

but seeing how she touched so many different lives

in so many different ways was really cool.

I printed each memory and put them in envelopes,

one memory per envelope.

And y'all, 50 envelopes is a lot.

I wrapped it up and held on tight to my secret 

(which was really hard to do)

until Sunday night

when I could finally give them to mom.

Basically, it was the greatest gift ever.

My memories have always been my most prized possession

and I fear losing them almost more than anything else.

This was such a cool way to reminisce with my mom 

and reflect on the many, many wonderful years we've all had with her.

And the coolest part is, now that all of these are in writing, she'll have them forever.

Obviously, the one complaint I got from everyone

was that it was too hard to narrow it down to just one

fun story or heart-felt memory

and knowing my mom and her friends, 

we could easily fill up 100 envelopes with sweet memories.

But we'll save that for the next half-century.

Hugs,