My mother celebrated her 80th birthday two weeks ago, however we had to celebrate this mile stone a week after her birth date because my son, who is a police officer, had to work on her birthday, there would be no celebration with one of us missing.
We pondered the question, “How were we going to celebrate this special day?” Since my mother did not want a big hoopla for her birthday we still needed to do something extra special for her. We couldn’t let her 80th birthday be celebrated just like any other birthday.
The answer came I knew that dinner at the Water’s Edge Restaurant in Long Island City would/ could make her 80th birthday special. The reservations were made and the evening was set.
We arrived early and gathered around the bar to have drinks and toast the birthday girl. 
Once we were all seated, all twelve of us, we began to check out the Water’s Edge’s menu…
The menu listed a variety of meats and fishes…All fresh fish not farmed…this was important to my parents. See they just learned the difference between farmed and fresh fish and I have not stopped hearing about it ever since.
My mother reviewed the menu extensively. I thought she was never going to make a decision as to what she wanted to eat. My mother and my sister both have hard times making up their minds. Like mother, like daughter, what can I say.
We all decided that the best gift to give my mother would be a family portrait. My mother and my dad have been saying they would like to have a family portrait hanging in their home.
So we wrote something gushy and scrolled it up and gave her this pink scrolled paper. She thought it was a joke, like we were giving her a diploma or something. But after she opened and read this pink scrolled paper she realized that this diploma was the gift that we all will be gathering to give her.
My mother doesn’t eat cake but we ordered a dessert and had the waiters and waitresses come out and sing happy birthday…she was thrilled, really thrilled.
The evening was long and delightful. We ate, we drank, and we enjoyed the view of Manhattan, even though it was a foggy night. 
My mother is 80!
I pray that we will celebrate her 90th birthday in the same way…
Happy Birthday, Mom!
You Look Marvelous!