Enjoying it was a perfect way to make my re-entry to the everyday world-as-usual after our own family celebration. We had a big party for my mom’s 90th birthday — her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren gathered form all over the country.

Mom’s nephew whom she hadn’t seen for 30 years flew south from New England for the weekend. He looked so much like his dad — her own beloved brother now gone these many years. It was touching to see her enjoying him. And my own cousin who looks so like her mom, my favorite aunt. And all mom’s friends meeting her offspring for the first time exclaiming on all the similarities they perceived in all of us. And all of us together because of the possibilities afforded to us by technology — in the form of the instant travel we enjoy. Such a party would have been impossible when she herself was a child.