Today was my little mama’s 86th birthday. In the past we have celebrated Mother’s Day and her birthday all at one time. But this year, I felt like something different was in order.

So we had Mother’s Day dinner on Sunday, and today we picked up mama for cookout birthday dinner.

On the menu: 
BBQ cauliflower 
Southern potato salad
Corn on the cob
Roasted Asparagus

An old fashioned menu for one sweet old gal.

But the real star of the show were the cookies we ordered from Kelsey—gorgeous AND delicious.

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Mama

Leaning on my momma
used to be comforting 
as slipping into a good story
and hers were the best.

Like the time she took a train
across Czechoslovakia—
a wide eyed new bride 
braving new worlds 

shaking her fist at armed guards
who dared dump her suitcase;
changing a tire at 12,000 feet
even the Alps didn’t scare mama. 

Now little mama leans on me—
her fragility a reckoning of age;
And so we measure this middle
in the luxury of not rushing

a season of priceless pause 
washes over our time 
and demands us to rest 
in the beauty of now.


—a draft by Carla Jeanne Picklo Jordan