Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Happy 94th Birthday, Mama

Happy birthday, mama! I hope you still have a lot of years to spend with us, so stay healthy ok?
I love you very much!

This is my mom when she was 18 years old,. That is when she married my father too, in 1936.


Here she is with all her siblings. Unfortunately, her siblings are all gone. She outlived all of them. She is the second from the right in the front row.

 This was taken when we had a big family reunion in the Philippines when my grandma (my dad's mother) turned 90. My mom is standing right behind my grandma in the center. Can you spot me? I am behind my mom to her left, with bangs. I was 18 then. My father is seated in the second row, first one on the right.


Below is my father. He passed away in 1996. I miss him so much, He had such a good sense of humor and he made us laugh a lot.

Below is a picture taken in Europe when my sisters and I went on a pilgrimage with mama and papa in 1993. This was the last time we were able to travel with my father. They went back to the Philippines right after the pilgrimage because my dad was requested to take care of some family business (he was a lawyer). While there, he had a stroke, became comatose for 3 years until his death. They've been married for 60 years by then. About a few months before his death, my mom also had a stroke. I think it was God's way of preparing her for his death because her short term memory was affected and she forgets anything that just happened, so she did not feel his death that badly.

My mom never really took care of us as babies. We had nannies. The first baby that she really took care of is my son Jed. For that reason, she has been very close to him. When she had a stroke, I took Jed with me to the Philippines and we went straight to the hospital. She could not recognize anybody but when she saw Jed, her eyes just sparked and she had the biggest smile. She recognized him. For that reason, I left him there for 6 months to stay with her and she recovered. Although her health completely recovered, her memory was never the same.

Below is a picture taken on my mom's 86th birthday. I still lived in Florida then. We had a family reunion. My sisters flew to Florida. My 2 brothers already live there too. This was taken in my yard. She used to live permanently with me because I had my nephew who also lived with me then, to help take care of her. Today, she gets rotated among us 5 brothers and sisters in 4 different states.

Christmas of the same year at my FL home.

My mom's 87th birthday with all her children, 3 girls and 2 boys.
Again, my sisters flew to Florida to join us celebrate it.

Christmas of the same year at my house.

For her 90th birthday, we had a real big reunion in Orlando. We registered at Ginny's Reunion Resort and rented condos there to accomodate everyone, all my brothers and sisters and our children and their children attended. Ma has 19 great grandchildren now.

This was taken last year in New Orleans. Ma loves to go on trips, never gets tired even after a long driving. She just enjoys the sceneries and never sleeps in the vehicle. At times after driving for more than 10 hours and as soon as we enter the house, she will ask where we are going next, lol .

She was with me here in MS when she turned 92 and I had a birthday party for her. My friend Debjani's birthday is 2 days before ma's so I threw a joined party for them. Prior to that, she had an accident here. She fell from a truck, trying to get down all by herself while I was in a store picking up a table. She said she had to go to the bathroom. I found her in a pool of blood on the pavement. She cut her head and it would not stop bleeding. I applied pressure on the cut of her head all the way home. We took her to a local hospital and the CT scan showed a hematoma. The ambulance had to transport her to Jackson because we have no neuro surgeon here and the ER doctor thought she might require a brain surgery. My husband sewed the wound up before she was taken. Then, he told me to prepare myself because she might not make it because her head was bleeding profusely and the hospital is 2.5 hours drive away. I have never been so scared in my life. I cried and prayed all the way to the hospital and called all my brothers, sisters and children to pray along with me.

She came home after 3 days, only to collapse again after about 2 weeks because of a very low BP. She was admitted to the hospital and the cardiologist discontinued her BP meds. Now, the only medicine she is taking is a low dose Cholesterol pill and some vitamins and she is looking really good and healthy.

This is one of her latest photos. I took it just a few weeks ago on June 29th, at my nephew (her oldest grandchild) and his wife's 25th wedding anniversary. Doesn't she look good? I hope I inherit her skin. She hardly has any wrinkles. It must have been the facial moisturizers that she would always asked us to send her when she was still in the Philippines.

Today, July 24th, she turns 94 but we celebrated it here in Waukegan, Illinois on the 22nd.
Happy Birthday, mama! I hope you have many, many, many, many more birthdays to come.

This was the invitation that my daughter created for my sister Fe, who hosted it.


Thank you so much for stopping by and reading about my mother. I hope it did not bore you. I did not mean to make it this long but I just have so much to say about her.

I would like to link with
(Thanks for hosting, ladies!)

Bunny Jean's Bunny Hop
Honey's Potpourri Friday at
The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday

29 comments:

Debbie said...

Happy Birthday to your beautiful mother! She is and has clearly always been very lovely! Actually, you have a great looking family all the way around.

Creations By Cindy said...

Happy Birthday to your mama! She is so beautiful!!!!! WOW...94 years old. I wish I had some of that skin cream too. (LOL) You look like her Christine! You too are beautiful my friend! Your mama is so blessed to have such a large and loving family that adores her. God is good! Hugs and blessings, Cindy

Olga Ю said...

She is very beautiful! I sincerely wish your mom's health!
All the best and congratulations!
Happy Birthday!!!

Olga, St. Petersburg.

Debby@Just Breathe said...

What a lovely post your wrote about your dear Mama. She looks amazing and I wish her a very
Happy Birthday! Give her a ((HUGS))
from me.

Sonny G said...

Wishing your beautiful Mom the happiest of birthdays..


Christine- you did miss the annie sloan giveaway but in aug. I will be having another book giveaway so please watch for that so you can enter..


see ya soon
Sonny

Glenda/MidSouth said...

Happy Birthday to your Mother!

Priscilla said...

I Love That ♥ I just discovered your blog and really like it.Nice to meet you! I will keep watching it in future.
I have posted my own Shoe Story if you have a minute, I would like to hear your comment about it.

Blow a Rainbow
Blow a Rainbow on Facebook
Blow a Rainbow on Bloglovin
Blow a Rainbow on Pinterest
Blow a Rainbow on Lookbook
Blow a Rainbow on Tumblr

Mwaks!

~priscilla~

Alycia Nichols said...

Oh, my....you just made me cry! This is SO sweet!!! I love it! Happy 94th to your dear, sweet, beautiful, youthful-looking Mother! She's still a stunner at 94! I, too, wish her many more years of great happiness!

Anonymous said...

A very happy birthday to your dear Mother!! How blessed you are Christine to still have her with you!! What a beautiful family.

Dolores said...

Happy Birthday to your beautiful and young looking mother.... she's amazing!!!

You have such a beautiful family, Christine!!!

Sarah said...

Christine, please give you mom my best wishes for her birthday. She looks great!

Bunny Jean said...

Hi Christine!

You never bore me! I love to read all about your family events so never stop sharing :)

Wishing your mother a wonderful birthday and of course many more! It is wonderful that she is still able to enjoy traveling... and of course her family.

Thanks for sharing at my party this week :)

xoxo Bunny Jean
Wednesdays Bunny Hop Party!

Cindy (Applestone Cottage) said...

You did not bore me Christine, this was a amazing post!
Happy Birthday to your beautiful Mom, what a life, what a story, thanks for sharing with us!
Hugs friend,
Cindy

Traci said...

Happy Birthday to your mom! She looks great. I love all of the old pictures you have! All the traveling she's been able to do with y'all is wonderful. It makes for tons of great memories!

Beth said...

This is a beautiful tribute, Christine. Your mother is an amazing woman, and I can tell you are so blessed by her!
Hugs, Beth

FABBY'S LIVING said...

Now I know where your beauty comes from Chris, you're mother IS and WAS a beautiful lady and may God bless her 94th. birthday and many more! I've enjoyed your family pictures, how big your family is gotten Christine, wow! You look so pretty with bangs. Yeah, I miss my dad so much and as you described yours, my dad was like that too..and he also died in 1996!!My dad had a heart stroke and died inmediatelly! (such similitude!) I love the picture of you and your mother in her 87th. bithday, a treasure. Hope her health is stable. Thanks for sharing.
FABBY

Solange Belém said...

Christine, Happy Birthday to your Mother !
Hugs and blessings.

Sol

bj said...

My lord, Christina...she is 20 yrs older than me and I have MANY more wrinkles. She is stunning. :)
Many birthday blessings to her.
xoxo bj

sabri said...

She's Beautiful xinex

Lady Linda said...

She is just so darling. What a beautiful young woman she was! My MIL is 95 qnd is hoping to travel from Illinois to Seattle for our daugher's wedding in Sept.
What a lovely family.
Linda

Amy said...

Happy Birthday to your Mom. May she be healthy, happy and beautiful everyday. These are some precious family pictures and great memories. Thank you so much for sharing with us. :)

Personalized Sketches and Sentiments said...

Happy belated birthday to your beautiful mom! Oh dear friend, I loved seeing all the photos throughout the years and reading everything too! I surely miss my mom and am so happy for you that you and your mom are able to spend wonderful times together.

Blessings & Aloha!

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

Christine, I am always amazed by your mother. I look older than she does, and your looks and energy must come from her. It is wonderful that she loves to go places. When I met her, I remember thinking that she seemed so content to just sit and enjoy everyone else talking and laughing, and a smile was never far from her face. Like other-like daughter. laurie

Pinky at Designs by Pinky said...

Christine, your Mother is BEAUTIFUL and I see you have inherited her GOOD LOOKS!!!! I hope she is with you for MANY more years too. She is amazing. XO, Pinky

Lynn said...

Your mama is beautiful! That's quite a clan you have there! We are fortunate. My mama is 87 in September. I love spending time with her. She's a writer and is as sharp as she always was. She edits my newspaper columns for me!
Lucky us!

❀~Myrna~❀ said...

Wow, Happy 94th Birthday to your beautiful Mom! You have a wonderful family!Great post! I enjoyed it very much!

Kathleen said...

Happy Birthday to your mom. You are blessed to have her so long! God bless her!

Sue said...

Christine, Your mom looks wonderful and I hope she continues to have good health for many years to come! amazing how she travels with you and gets to enjoy all of the wonderful places you and John visit. Tell her I send her best wishes on this birthday. :-) Sue

Barbara said...

Hello! Christine. One thing I thought when I saw you sitting on the beach is that your skin was so smooth.
Looks like some great family reunions.
Brought back memories reading of Jackson, MS. Spent time there in late 80's.

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