On Thursday, October 2, 2025, Mom celebrated her 91st birthday with a few friends and family members. These were smaller and quieter celebrations compared to the two big celebrations we had for her 90th birthday a year earlier. A lot of life happened over that year and Mom’s health rapidly declined after being diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure in November 2024. She was in frail health by her 91st birthday, but she was happy to be celebrated by her loved ones.
A couple of weeks before her actual birthday, her two nieces flew up from Huntington Beach to kick-off the celebrations! Michelle (McKee) Neumann and Lisa (McKee) Love spent the weekend of September 19-21 with me and we enjoyed long visits with Mom on Saturday and Sunday. (Tony was away on a golf trip, so it was truly a Girl’s Weekend. Lol!) We reminisced about family history as we looked through family photos and memorabilia. We took time to eat meals together while laughing about shared memories and even shared a few tears over some of the harder memories. Mom’s mind and memory were as sharp as ever during our conversations. It was heartwarming to see how her energy increased as our visits went on. She truly enjoyed every minute of our visits with her that weekend.
On her actual birthday, she had a scheduled visit from two friends that live in the same mobile home park (Murieta Village). Linda White and Chris Tabke brought her a birthday card, flowers, and a gift of colorful notecards. They became her close friends over several months of bi-weekly visits starting in Spring 2025. I had reached out to the Rancho Murieta Community Church, where Mom was a long-time member, to ask for someone to visit Mom regularly and provide her with spiritual support. God answered my prayer with Linda and Chris. Mom enjoyed their visits from the start and she looked forward to seeing them every other week. They marveled at her sharp memory about people, places, and things. They loved looking at all her family photos and greeting cards, and hearing about each of her family members. They never missed a scheduled visit and she never canceled on them, either.
A few days before her birthday, her weekly caregiver, Rita, asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner. Mom had no appetite for food, but when pressed by Rita she said she remembered the delicious meatloaf I had made before. Rita told me what she wanted, so I obliged and prayed that it would taste good enough for her to want to eat it. Natalie and Ryan were able to make the trip back to Rancho Murieta on her birthday, so the three of us went over to have dinner with her. We had my famous (lol!) meatloaf, white rice, salad, and vanilla cupcakes. Mom had a few bites of each and kept commenting on how everything tasted so good to her. Yay!
Topping off her birthday celebrations were all the phone calls and cards her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and friends showered upon her. She surrounded herself with all the cards and pictures she received and basked in the glow of love they were soaked in.
Written by Cindy (Giddings) Velez