I am greeting my mom early for her 88th birthday. It is her birthday tomorrow but we will celebrate it properly when the kids are around this coming Saturday. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll be able to reach that ripe old age of 88. She is the youngest of four sisters and the oldest is almost a hundred years old now. Their generation is quite different from ours. They were not able to enjoy the age of technology which we call the internet nowadays. I remember though that we used to have that manual Underwood typewriter where Dad typed most of his correspondence at home. My parents both studied shorthand writing. I was intrigued. When I was in college, I took up six units of steno but that was all. I never learned to appreciate shorthand. You need patience and skill to use it. I don’t know if shorthand subjects are still offered until now. Here’s a picture we had earlier with mom, my eldest brother Roy and my son Josef. The pinkish color in the background was because of the overhead lighting.
Some say you are totally blessed when you reach 80. The added years are a bonus to one’s age. Maybe so, but those times are the times you feel your age. Pains and other illness crop up and you need maintenance medicines for longer life. They grow a little forgetful. Mom is hard of hearing, oftentimes, I write messages to her so she will understand and will be able to read them. We don’t get to talk as much as we used to because she always says “I don’t know, I could not hear you“. What she hears are garbled sounds on her right ear. The left is totally deaf. Years ago, we bought her hearing aid upon the advice of an otolaryngologist but she never adjusted to it. Maybe old age has contributed to her hearing loss.
Happy birthday Mom, we love you. Good health and happiness always.
Dreams And Escapes 
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