happy birthday mom!

photograph byKeri Pickett
That's the birthday girl on the right, with the groom's grandmother on the left.

Today mom turns eighty, she says that it’s true
In spite of her looks which remain sixty-two,
Though she says she feels achy and slow on her pins,
She still can out-pace me in most everything.

She worked for some colleges, and built two great houses
She lived long in Maine (and that means catching mouses),
She’s hosted some students, and made some headbands
She’s played the piano on her baby grand,

She managed four children as wild as they get,
She substitute taught, and she had a few pets,
She’s taken up painting, and sculpted some chickens
And works doing things for the poor like the dickens.

She’s arranged ikebana, and grew some bonsai,
(If I did all these things I would certainly die),
This is too many things for one person to do.
I cannot believe for a second it’s true.

Yes, she’s had many lives, one right after another:
She’s been big in business, in houses, a mother,
I want it in writing she’s eighty years old.
[Cause I never believe what I hear, or I’m told.]
—written by my sister Erin in honor of the occasion