Tears For Mom’s Birthday

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Yesterday would have been by mom’s 106th birthday. She passed away here in Riga, Latvia in 1996. As much as so much time has passed it doesn’t make it any easier. I found myself crying like a fountain. It made me realize how much time has passed . My mom had her youth interrupted by WW II, escaping from her homeland Latvia and beginning life anew in the New World. The only compensation was that she found love with my dad in war torn Germany and finally in New York she gave birth to me at 45 years of age. Still nothing keeps you from crying after all this time has passed. I content myself by thinking that at least my mom and dad can do a birthday waltz across the heavens. Today I remembered the good times too. When my mom’s 70th birthday was upon us I decided to make her a surprise party. Most of the people who live in mom’s apartment building in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York were Latvians and friends. Luckily at the end of May the weather was summer like and we could open all the windows and there was no worry about bad weather. One of her best friends lived on the second floor. She was an actress who also had to flee from Latvia and even though she couldn’t be an actress among Americans she continued to act in Latvian theater troops that entertained Latvians all across the U.S. That May 26th I asked her to invite mom for a birthday lunch. My mom still worked at the Latvian newspaper “Laiks” or “Time” where my dad had been an editor until his death. The newspaper was just a couple of blocks from our apartment so she always came home for lunch. So that I could throw together the party I didn’t want mom to find out what was going on. She went to her friend Austra’s for the lunch and I continued to make food. She finished work at 5PM so it would take her about 15 minutes to get home. So again I had to ask Austra to tell her I was making a special dinner just for us three and to stay at her apartment until I called. Well at least all of our neighbors managed to get to our apartment just before five and I had a living room full of people. In the apartment which was small the best thing was that when you came down the hallway and turned toward the living room you could not see what was happening in the living room if everyone was standing at the far end. So there they all stood with champagne glasses and I remembered to put two champagne glasses near the doorway for mom and Austra. I knew mom would be thrilled by the surprise but hey, I wanted to be sure she was fortified with some champagne. So I called Austra and up they came. I opened the door and congratulated mom on her birthday and said I had everything set up in the living room. I went ahead of them so I could give them the champagne and we came to the living room door. My mom stopped just to see a room full of champagne holding people. Then she kissed me with tears in her eyes and I gave her a glass. She went around clicking champagne glasses with everyone. All of these people were seniors and have today already passed as well but I remember at the best of time they could party better than I could with my friends. The birthday worked out fantastic and far into the night we were popping champagne corks right out of mom’s fifth floor kitchen window. Salute mom, love you and miss you – Happy Birthday! I have included a photo of my lovely mom in New York City