Louise's Birthday 2005

 

I almost missed writing a blog for Mother's 100th birthday, but I have a few more weeks before it is her 101 birthday.  With Covid isolation last summer, my brain wasn't working that well, but now that things are a little more "normal". . . .

Mom had a lot of ideas on how she wanted to celebrate her 85th birthday, though:  sky-diving, a tattoo, Glamour Shots.  We decided we should take a poll of her children/grandchildren (who had been coached to circle "Glamor Shots") to see what her birthday "treat" would be and just have a regular celebration for now.  We celebrated her 85th birthday at her home at Lake Sherwood with Doug and Christi Provost, Leah and Todd Warren, Rebecca and Jason Lewis, Jim and Deb Long, Harry Provost, Dave and I.  Several of our cousins next door popped over to say hi too. Since it was her first birthday after Dad passed, we tried to make it as festive as possible with games, contests (spitting watermelon seeds but Leah bought seedless watermelons making it a challenge finding seeds to spit)and awards.  Oh, Glamour Shots was the winner for her birthday "treat"!

Meanwhile since she would have to wait for her birthday "treat", she surprised us with a visit from friends who brought their Harley for her to ride---fulfilling another of her bucket list wishes.

It had been awhile since I had been to Chesterfield Mall and didn't realize that Glamour Shots was no longer there---in fact, it was nowhere in St. Louis!  Fortunately they still had a studio in Dallas where my sister Jane lived.  So, we took a road trip to visit Jane and Richard with Glamour Shots photo shoot on the agenda.  

We got to the mall a little early and shopped around buying some dangling earrings for her to wear.  When it was our appointment time, the ladies in the studio were clearly intrigued at glamour-izing an 85 year old woman.  I don't know who had more fun: Jane, me, Mom or the ladies in the studio.

I LOVED all of her glamor shots but Jane, being a professional business person, wanted one shot that was a little more conservative (boring). Mom obviously had a great time and that event is one of my favorite memories.  Later, we went back to pick up the photos and they had made a large photo of her as part of their display---she was clearly the oldest model in their display, hopefully setting a trend in her age group.  Mom proudly used the photos on her Christmas cards that year.

She was gone a year later, so we'll never know what her plans were for her 90th birthday.   Jane used the "professional business person photo" for her funeral cards which is why Jane had wanted that pose. .. . I'm a little sorry that we didn't use the more glamorous photos.