Don't Wait for a Birthday

We all struggle with the notion of what to get our mother’s for their birthday.  After so many presents, don’t we run out of ideas?  My mother’s birthday isn’t until December, but when I came across something on the Internet, I immediately knew it was going to be an early birthday present for Mama. 

            In August, I bought tickets for a concert in Houston, Texas, for November 6^th, 2010.  Although her birthday was months away, there was something in me that said, “Don’t wait for her birthday.  Do it now!”  So, I printed out the tickets, made a homemade birthday card, (which to me is always the most special) and brought them to her four months before her birthday!

            You should have seen her face when she read the “introduction.”  It went something like this:  Since we’ll never get to Tennessee, the closest we’ll ever come is Houston to see (then she had to flip open a folded sticky note to expose the words) Mrs. Loretta Lynn.  I thought she would faint!  She was as excited as a kid at Disneyland!  She laughed, grinned, and jumped up and down with a child’s excitement.

            Last night, she and I sat on the fourth row at the Arena Theater in Houston and watched Mrs. Loretta Lynn walk down the aisle and get on stage only a few feet from us.  The entire experience was amazing.  We took turns taking pictures left and right with her digital camera.  The experience is one that will stay with me for years to come.  I not only heard the legendary Loretta Lynn sing, and at one point even spoke to someone in the crowd saying, “Thank you for coming to see me.”  I also sat right beside my mother.

            Mama and I have experienced many things together, some with wonderful excitement, others with dreadful sadness. What another magical moment that was between mother and daughter.  Even though birthdays come once a year, this experience was once in a lifetime.  The point of this story is to urge you to make your own special days whenever the opportunity presents itself, because you never know when that once in a lifetime experience will come.  I didn’t wait for the “important” calendar day!  I made my own important day, just as I made my own special birthday card.  After all, aren’t those are always the best?