MOM'S 75TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS (3)

Dear Family,

This year Mom celebrated her 75th birthday and she had three parities, one in Michigan at Mary's, one in SLC at Cheryl's as Oma and Mary Clare have the same birthday and then a sit down dinner with our grown family here minus all the grandkids.  All were great.

I gave Mom a new Mac Air portable computer and she is taking lessons again at the Apple Store in City Creek.

The party at Mary's was great.  The picture shows Oma with a crown and covered with long swatches that each grandchild and adult placed on her after they said what they loved about Mom and Oma.

I mentioned here and with the other celebrations that a most remarkable thing about Mom was her intense desire to have a large family and reminded those present that if that had not been so, several of the people there would be somewhere else.  Mom was definitely Queen at this gathering.  Al came with her kids as well and it was so much fun.

Cheryl hosted a great family party for Mom and Mary Clare.  Rick and Gemina were there and we were surprised to see Roy who drove all the weay from Denver for a surprise visit.  It was good to see Rick, Gemina and that little chunk, Luken, who is growing so rapidly.  The little kids had a ball on the trampolines and all the goodies at Cheryl's.

Speaking of Goodies, Cheryl and Paul had arranged for Hires to come an do the Hamburgers and Franks.  They were yummy with all the fixings.  It was appropriate as I used to take Mom to Hires on an occasional date.  In those days (late 50's) a burger was 25 cents as was a malted milk so a dollar would cover the cost of the food.  Gasoline at that time was 20 cents a gallon. Hires still has the best shakes and malts.

On the night of her birthday, we had a sit down dinner at our home for our kids and their spouses and that was great.  I bought a huge chunk of beef loin and carved 21 New York strip steaks for the grill with the help of Roy and Doug.  Gemina says those were the best steaks she has eaten.

We all paid tribute to Mom.  Some of the old stories came out even the ones that had slipped my memory like the time the older boys got into a huge paint fight when Mom organized them to paint our three story house in Newton, Mass.  But great love and appreciation for Mom was expressed for all her love and kindness over the years to all.  The stories were great!

So Happy birthday Mom, they threw the mold away after you came along and there are not any like you.

Alles Liebe, Dad and the Gang

A DAY WITH MARY

We spent some time with Mary and her family.

Some of you may have heard that our old home on Kings Gate Way in Bloomfield Township is up for sale.  If you click on the link above you can see all the pictures of the rooms and the changes since we were there.

 Mary made an appointment the Real Estate agent who is handling the sale.  We went in and Mary announced she grew up in this home and tears began to flow for Mom and Mary.  The Chinese family who bought it from us invested a lot of money into the house renovations.  Check all the pictures.  They took the "Girls" bedroom and bath and the "Boys" bedroom and converted it to one huge master bedroom and bath with a huge walk in closet,  Hard wood floors everywhere with granite counters everywhere as well,  It definitely was a tug on the heart strings to walk through the empty house and remember so many good times.

We then had another heart wrencher as we went to the Lone Pine Cemetery to visit Julie's grave.  There is a feeling of peace there but it is always tough for me.  Sometimes we do not feel so far away from Julie.

Mary had a party for Mom's 75th birthday at her home
 and Al came over with all her kids.  Bryan and family were there as well. We just had a good time with all and Mom had a fine happy birthday in Michigan.

We visited an old friend and colleague, Eli Aboulafia, who was a vascular surgeon trained in the East and practiced in Botsford and Sinai Hospitals. He covered for me on occasion and I always liked him.

When Mom and I were in Madrid, Spain, we visited the El Prado Museum and saws all the great masters painting by Raphael, Goya and El Greco.  There was an El Greco exhibit and there was one painting of an Aboulafia by El Greco that looked a lot like his descendent, Eli.  That one was killed by the king of Spain, "Pedro the Cruel" but the painting remained and in fact El Greco stayed at the Aboulafia estate in Toledo.  The Spanish Jews were forced to leave Spain and their descendants are known as Sephardic Jews.  The original Aboulafia estate still stands in Toledo.  An interesting side note of our trip.  His wife is an accomplished artist and we have one of her oil paintings.

Well all good things come to an end and we flew back to Salt Lake after a great and event filled visit, the star of which was Naomi Suzanne Fredenberg, our 81st grandchild.

Love to All,  Mom and Dad