Newer Every Day

"We turn not older with years, but newer every day." ~ Emily Dickinson

This beautiful face belongs to my sons' Great Aunt Lois. She's their father's late mother's sister. The faraway look in her eye reflects the bewildered pleasure she felt at having received a special phone call just moments earlier.

This past Sunday was a special occasion - Aunt Lois' 95th birthday. Go on, you can say it. She looks much younger than that. She's young at heart, mind and spirit too.

In earlier years, Lois was a public health nurse right here in Mississauga, and among her duties were postnatal visits to mothers and their babies in the home. One such visit was to a woman just five years her junior, a new mother named Hazel McCallion who has since held the title of Mayor of Mississauga for the last 32 years.

Well, I'm sure you've guessed by now that it was Mayor Hazel on the other end of that phone, calling to congratulate her on her birthday. As it turned out, it was supposed to be an in-person visit, arranged by Lois' granddaughter Amanda and grandson-in-law Colin who were hosting the party. Hazel was planning to attend but was detained at an earlier commitment and opted to call and arrange an afternoon tea at Lois' retirement home sometime this week instead.

Aunt Lois was delightfully stunned by the incident. I'm not sure if the mayor actually remembers Lois - it's not like they've ever been in touch since they met over 50 years ago, but Hazel was touched by Amanda and Colin's desire to do something memorable for Aunt Lois and excitedly agreed to meet with her. It's unfortunate that she wasn't able to make it to the party as it would have been a wonderful surprise, but it's nice to know that she cared to make the phone call and plan an an afternoon tea with her.

When the brief phone call was over, Aunt Lois was so pleased, and she expressed how much she was looking forward to meeting with the mayor. What I found to be particularly touching was how Aunt Lois immediately thought about her late husband. "Reg would have just loved this."

The party was a fine celebration as most birthdays are.

There were gifts.

Beautiful flowers.

Delicious cake.

And flowers on the cake.

And there was lots of love. This is Aunt Lois with her youngest great granddaughter, Maeve. Aren't they a beautiful pair?

Thanks for joining the party.

The mystery image in yesterday's post was of Venetian blinds seen at a restaurant. All comments have now been posted so you can see how everyone did. The full image appears below. All of you who guessed had clever answers but the correct ones were give by Glo, Zuzana, June, Sandra, Daryl, Fragrant Liar, Steve (Out on the Prairie), Kat, Reb and Cricket.