Happy 87th Birthday, Mom

            I’m just taking this opportunity to say “Happy Birthday” to Mom. 

She turned 87 yesterday. 

            Mom is Elsie Elizabeth Porth Shealy, and, please, don’t ever call her “Elise” instead of “Elsie.”  Her name is just the same as that of the Borden cow; she even has a deck of cards with Elsie the Cow on them, thanks to nephew Ted and his wife, Cheryl.

            I think Mom has more energy than I do.  She teaches Sunday School, is active in the Lake Murray Community Club, hosts groups at her home, and just generally stays busy.  She and her two older sisters, Jenny and Mavis, continue to play Scrabble.  Mom also likes to play cards, especially a game called Fan Tan. 

            She fought the introduction of a computer into her life for a long time, but now she is an e-mail junkie of sorts.  She is totally exasperated when her machine is on the blink.

            At the age of 80, she performed a rap number at the rehearsal dinner when my daughter Mandy got married. 

              A former South Carolina “Mother of the Year” and high-achieving sales executive, she has been the source of many hours of laughter over the years.  She’s the one who took a flight from Columbia to Chicago for a few days of meetings, wearing one kind of shoe on one foot and a totally different kind on the other foot.  She’s also the one who took an early morning flight to Baltimore, leaving her car running in the airport parking lot.

            Above all, she’s a great mom.

            Happy Birthday, Mom.

Mom with her 5 children.  Left to right: Seated - Rod (deceased), Shawn.  Standing - Lorri, Mom, Sherry, Christy.



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