The Crafty Lizzard

This past Sunday my mom turned 70. My brothers and I knew that we had to do something special but what.....we started to think what about her own computer. We should've run with it when we first thought of it but we didn't.

This is where the comedy of errors only begins.

We also knew that we needed to get their house wired (ok, wireless) to effectively use the new computer. We let all this go until about the week before her birthday. The brother that took charge lives in Maryland. He made the contact to get DSL hoping to keep the whole thing a secret. Alas, the technician showed up at their house (when he didn't need too), the router was sent to them (when it should've been sent to my brother), and he ended up spending 2 1/2 hours on the phone trying to get the whole thing situation straightened out.

Friday night, after Mom went to bed, we (meaning my brother, my niece and I) set about setting up Mom's new computer. I decided to put a big "stickie note" on the desktop with "Happy Birthday Mom!" on it.

In the morning, Mom grilled all of us as to whose computer it was. The 6 year old even nonchalantly told her it was hers. After a few minutes she finally realized it was hers and was SO excited.

The way she has accepted this push by her children and jumped into trying to figure everything out it amazing!

My brothers and I then had a dinner to cook for the afternoon's party so we left Mom on her own.

Well...not exactly. We left her in the capable hands of the 19 and 6 year olds!

We ended up having a wonderful dinner, a wonderful party and a birthday complete with 70 candles (and a fire extinguisher that Dad brought out!).

Mom got not only a new way of staying in touch with the family, but a handmade set of windchimes, a sentimental gift that her dad use to do (from her sis) and a cane (from her little bro)! And she also got an amazing day with her whole fam!