I hope I turn 60 in Hawaii.

My mom is turning 60 today (December 5th). I would feel bad about not being with her to celebrate but she is in Hawaii with my dad so I think she's doing ok. My mother, Marilyn Lee was the first child of George Elton McVay and Mary Adel Warriner (my namesake).

My grandmother met my grandfather when he was in the Navy during WWII.














Grandma's family was from Richmond, Virginia.

My grandma is on the far left in the back row, holding my mom. (Correction: My mom is the fourth from the left in the front row. My grandma is holding my Aunt Sandy.)


Grandpa's family were farmers in Missouri.















After my mom came Caroline, Sandy and Shirley.








My Uncle David says that when my grandparents called for him, sometimes they would call all of the girls' names and even the dog's name before coming up with his.




My mom married my dad shortly before he left for Vietnam.














She sent him pictures like this one.















This one looks like it was taken in their home after he had returned but I'm not sure.



Who knew my mom married a rebel?








Her family affectionately called my dad the "bearded hippie freak."

My mom has always been there for me. She stayed home with us. I don't think I appreciated all that entails until I started spending more time at home myself. Thank you for doing the thankless work, mom.

My mom loves us with all her heart and all her soul. This, I have never doubted. If you asked her what she wanted for her 60th birthday, she would say, "For my kids to be happy."

To enhance our happiness, there were slumber parties, season passes to the swimming pool, Easter eggs to color and hunt, pumpkins to carve, snowmen to build, swings in the backyard, trees to climb, crawfish to catch, music lessons, bikes to ride, cameras, kittens, puppies, turtles, frogs, fish.









My mom fully embraced the role of Grandmother.

She kept Sam while I worked from the time he was seven weeks old until we moved to St. Louis when he was three.

They are close. I used to say that while I missed him when I worked, I didn't worry about him when he was with my mother.

My mom loves spending time with her brothers and sisters and their families.


And her mother.

Happy birthday, Mom.

We love and appreciate you.

Note: Corrections to this post can be found here.