~and I am not afraid of anything~

I'm not sure if it was because I'm dead tired or even maybe that tomorrow I'll be 60 years old.  It might even be that I've been spending the last 3 weekends up in Hutchinson, Kansas preparing my house there for sale.  Whatever the case, when I saw that little jack-o-lantern cake tonight at the grocery store, I felt a lump in my throat and a tear well up in my eye.

So I bought it and we ate it for supper.
And it tasted good.

When I was a tiny little girl, my mom always made me a pumpkin birthday cake.  It was always homemade in her farm kitchen and was decorated with orange frosting and licorice that represented the eyes, nose, and mouth.  It probably wouldn't have won an award at the fair or anything but to the little girl I "used" to be, it was the most beautiful cake in the whole wide world.  

It was beautiful for one reason only.
It was made by my mother's hands and she loved me.

Later on in life, I switched out my choice of birthday cakes as I found myself opting for an applesauce sheet cake.  I don't know how I got on to that practice but without fail,  my mom made me just what I asked for.

"No frosting and definitely NO raisins, Mom!" I always told her.  She never failed to disappoint me, making my last one on the occasion of my 50th birthday back in 2005.

I never went into the local supermarket this evening in search of a birthday cake.  It was not on my "mental" shopping list.  Yet even at that, I found myself walking right over to it and the woman who was my mother for over 50 years came immediately to mind.  For a moment in time I thought I could cry and it took me all of 5 seconds to pick it up and decide to buy it.  Mike and I each took a piece of it and enjoyed it with our supper tonight and while we ate it, I remembered my mom.  

For years now, I have just wanted to make it to 60 years of age to honor my father who lost his life at age 59 to the horrible disease of cancer.  I desired to find the age that he was not able to. The countdown is on and it would appear that I shall indeed see it come to pass.  I believe that my parents are in Heaven and I believe that they look down upon me.  If they were here on Earth, I know that they would rejoice with me to know that I have found the beginning of my sixth decade of life.  If not for the fact that those two people loved one another and decided they should have a sixth little baby, I would not be here this day to celebrate.

What lies ahead of me?
As they say here in Texas, I'm fixing to find out.

I would want them to know that I made it and that I am still working hard to do the things that would make them proud of me, their little girl.  I am not afraid of anything and that's a lesson that they taught me all of my life.

Thank you God for this long life that I have been given.