On a Personal Note...

This is my dear and remarkable mother-in-law, Vivian Wells on Mother's Day 2010. She is still beautiful at 88 years old. She gives Betty White some competition. Betty White was on Saturday Night Live recently. She is 88 and 1/2 and said it several times throughout the show as she engaged in risque jokes. How lucky are to have such vital, hip, older women to show us that Life is fun at any age?

The lessons I learn from Viv as I watch her age with dignity are ones I would have never learned without her. She maintains her interest in those around her, putting her aches and pains aside to focus on our stuff. She plays bridge at least once a week if not three times. She's been a long-time volunteer at the American Cancer Society's Discovery Shop where you will see her every Saturday. She still has us over for dinner every third Sunday evening of the month with the table perfectly set in advance and everything simmering so we can sit and have a drink together before dinner is served. She has friends. Plenty of them. She drinks wine and has no dietary restrictions. And she stays on top of her stuff. All her affairs are in order. We know exactly where her important papers are kept and who gets what when she dies. There is nothing in her cabinets that are not used. She still loves clothes, dressing for any occasion with accessories perfectly matched. She still drives, grocery shops, takes care of her car, goes to the movies...you name it. She shows me every day how to love and value Life.

Aside from all these things, she has given me my beautiful husband and his brother Jeff and sister Julie. Here are the three "kids" on Mother's Day:



Blessings abound.