Toast
Masters Club 3849 January 24th 2012 Open House
This
is the edited version of the speech I gave for our open house. I took
out a few bits and I added my most hilarious blunder. This blunder
was in front of my peers and the public. A blunder can make or break
your speech, depending on how you react to it. They didn't know it
wasn't part of the speech and tears were streaming down their faces
as they rolled in the isles with laughter.
Kathy
Dick
Mom's
birthday is January 9th, she lives in
Cincinnati Ohio. A long way from here, so I rarely get to spend
time with Mom on her birthday. The last three times I have been back
to Cincinnati were for deaths. With 2007 being the last visit. I was
feeling a need to see my Mom.
My
sister “Jessica” who lives in Abbotsford was going to be there,
how great would it be for Mom to have all three of her kids together
for her 76th Birthday.
Mom
is a brave, character. Over the years she has been crippled by
rheumatoid arthritis, and broken up by an unfortunate accident, Mom
verses speeding muscle car. For months after her accident we did not
know if she would ever talk, walk or play her favorite game,
“Scrabble”. My Brother Bob moved in with Mom when her second
husband passed away in 2006. Bob cooks, drives Mom around and plays
scrabble with her.
Our
plane arrived at the Greater Cincinnati Airport, in Kentucky, an hour
late. Jessica announced my arrival as I pulled my rolling luggage
into the waiting area. Mom's whole body had a glowing grin with the
anticipation of my arrival. She was sitting in a row of seats against
the wall with her feet stomping the floor. She was wearing a pair of
Pink canvas Sketchers with a red peace symbol on the tongue. Little
plastic gems covered the white rubber toes and side walls, no shoe
laces . Every stomp set off a series of small LED lights flashing
red, white, and blue. She stomped at everyone in the airport as we
were leaving till they commented on her shoes. Everyone loved them
and she ate up the attention. We would have been in the airport a
long time had it been busy. Luckily it was late in the day, we passed
two people.
Jessica
treated Mom, Bob and I to a Birthday dinner at B.J.'s Restaurant and
Brew House. Gary treated
Jessica to dinner. Mom wore her new pink, canvas, stomping
shoes. We arrived for an early meal and the restaurant was not busy.
As the evening progressed more people arrived. Sitting at a table
close to our booth was a birthday party for a middle aged women named
Karen. We had to go introduce the birthday girls to each other before
leaving. With so many more people in the restaurant Mom stomped all
the way out blushing with the attention.
Bob
drove Mom and I home. From the
back seat I could see we were overtaking a police car in the right
hand lane. Mom started stomping her feet, I don't know how she
got her feet on the dash. That's when it struck me. Those shoes light
up like a police car. “Please Mom, stop stomping your feet.”
In
the 60's when we started playing Scrabble no one would challenge my
words; they just fixed them for me. Mom was thrilled when I
wanted to play a game. She kept saying to Bob “No Karen doesn't
want to play. Do you want to Play?” They played so much and changed
a rule, I had to say yes. A dictionary is only to be consulted for
a challenged word. They used their dictionaries to find words to
play. Justifying gaining the knowledge of many more words. I needed
no convincing. Mom's face glowed like her pink, canvas, stomping
shoes, when she talked about me playing scrabble.
Mom
always towered over me, she being all of 5'-2”. Fighting the
tears as I hung mom, No, No I didn't hang Mom, I hugged Mom so small
in my arms. I was living up to her expectations, and passing her as
she shrunk into her crippled body. And I have been shrinking for a
few years.
We
can only hope for good health, more visits and many scrabble games.
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