My mom and a birthday dinner

So, last night we went out with my mother for her birthday dinner. Yesterday was not her birthday, her birthday was on the 2nd but last night was the birthday dinner. For over a week I've trying to figure out what to write about my mother and about celebrating her birthday. I've had lots of ideas go through my brain, but blogging for me of late has just been hard. I have lots of ideas, but seems to distract myself with other things for long enough that I eventually have no time. I'll not ramble on about that in this post. I mean I do do need something for tomorrow.

Happy 66th Merrill

My mother is the kindest, understanding and strongest person that I know. I'm amazed by her on a daily basis. Since moving into adulthood, I've grown to appreciate the person that is my mother in so many ways. Now don't get me wrong he's not mother Theresa or anything, I mean she'll certainly push you into a pool in the occasion and the desire to do so happen coincide. But my mother is just a good person the kind of person who's existence give you faith in the rest of the world. All I have to do is envision my mother at her store trying to help someone who's not feeling well. Having that person put one hand out and asking them to resist while she presses down. Then working her way through a number of different remedies or foods that may or may not be a part of the solution or the problem. She doesn't get paid for this. Maybe she makes a sale, but most importantly she practices what she is passionate about.

She's always done this in her life. I don't separate her work life from her personal life because there's no need. It's not that she works so hard that she doesn't have a personal life but to the contrary she has chosen to pursue as a career something that fit in her life almost 40 years ago and transform, grow and change it as her passions led. My mother was never led by thoughts of huge financial gain, success for her has always been defined much differently. Success is the opportunity to pursue that which makes you happy and that which you are passionate about. If you make money, great.

Of course what she's passionate about rests a bit outside the conventional norms. It has for as long as I've known her. However, that never bothers her. She's never been that concerned about what people thought. She's always had such strength of conviction in who she is. I always tell people that if I can be about a 1/4 of the person that she is then I'll be happy.

The Dinner

For dinner we ate at the Stillwater Cafe in Eastford, CT and it was a culinary delight from start to finish. My parents had a tradition on birthdays and certain holidays to travel in search of good food. My parents were "foodies". They loved a good meal and new a good one because they had prepared and shared many. The Stillwater Cafe did not disappoint I'm certain that my father would not have called in "adequate". You knew something was not good by his standards if he called it adequate.