Turning 15

My daughter's turning 15 next week. People of a Latin persuasion celebrate 15 instead of 16. It got me thinking of my own 15th birthday. We did not throw a big party. Instead, my Mom and her best friend Yola took me, my sister Jeanette, and Yola's son Philip (our best friend at the time) to Benihana (sp?) for dinner and then to the Playboy club for Shirley Temples. I was recounting it for my Mom the other night on the phone, and she did not remember doing it...

I've got to tell you, that night made a big impression on me. I'm not sure how Mom and Yola decided on our night's agenda. I'd never heard of a Japanese steak house and I don't think I was aware of the Playboy Club's existence either. In retrospect it seems carefully planned by Mom and Yola to be special and memorable. Only Mom doesn't remember it...I do.

Mom probably doesn't remember the other very memorable (to me) outing together. I'm the oldest of five kids. My sister Jeanette is only 16 months younger than I. In fact by 1969 my mom had 5 kids ages 6 and under! Consequently I didn't get many times alone with her. But once, after a doctor's appointment, mom took me to lunch. Just me. I don't remember anything about it except the special feeling to be sitting at a table alone with my mom having conversation.

I have one special memory of my Dad too, that he probably wouldn't remember. One night he took me (alone) to see The Hiding Place. I felt like a princess. Come to think of it, that may be the only time in my life when I felt like a princess...

It occurs to me that we don't always know what's going to be very important to another person. We could be totally unaware that we're creating for them a special memory or a once-in-a-life-time feeling. What an incredible privilege! In 2008 let's make many good memories. Let's love people in a way that communicates how delightful they are, and gives them a life-shaping memory.