Happy 84th Birthday Pinkie Patti!

on Thursday, 27 September 2012.

Pinkie Patti Dark Pink Tam Dear Mom (aka Pinkie Patti),

It's a perfect fall day for your 84th birthday: the sky is blue, the air is crisp, the colours are changing and Canadian geese are honking in the field.

I'm grateful for all the wonderful times we've shared together the past year, even though it has also been really hard for both of us at times.

Life's journey is sometimes not an easy one. It's fraught with trials, tribulations, pain and sorrow. It's also full of joy, happiness, love, laughter and abundance.

This year we experienced lots of magic in your home. We walked in the snow and shared Christmas wishes, we went to the Winter Festival where you danced with a real bear (OKAY, an ALMOST real bear).

We watched TED Global (with our own teddy bears and other friends), and we celebrated St Paddy's day (you sang Danny Boy), and if I'm not mistaken, we also danced.

We hid and hunted chocolate eggs at Easter, and in the summer we enjoyed your flowers and the veggie garden and the birds (especially the hummers!). We were blessed to have Caroline with us most of the time.

We went to the All White Centennial party at The Club, where we saw lots of old friends. We ate great food, made some new friends, and of course, we danced...

Over the years, we've done tons of other cool stuff, like sharing our peace day wishes, and giving the government of Iran a piece of our minds, not once, not twice, but THREE times.

Wherever we were, whatever we did, most important of all, we ALWAYS DANCED!!!

You have struggled, savoured and celebrated throughout your life and you have done it with courage, determination, spirit and a force of will the likes of which few of us have.

As Nat Cole says in one of your favourite songs: "Unforgettable, that's what you are!"

I love these pictures of you from this year; they will help me remember you always: