Ten years ago I taught myself to build a website in honor of my mom’s 60th birthday. Mom lived in Texas. I didn’t. Now, my mom is turning 70! I live in Texas. Mom doesn’t. WHO KNEW?!?

A lot has happened in that 10 years. Among other things, both Mom and Dad became cancer survivors. They moved back to Michigan. They became great-grandparents. Even with my poor track record of web updates lately, much of it has been documented on the website that grew out of that gift. My goal with it was to collect photos and messages on a website and to have Mom’s friends and family look at it with her that day, no matter where there were geographically located. I think it may have been the best gift I have ever given.

This year, Mom is back in Michigan, surrounded by friends and family. I’m still far away. And the gift this time is a collaborative one from Michele and Shaun, Westi and Mike, Nicole, Steve, Shelly and Jill, Dad, and Steve and me. It is a different type of present but it is somewhat thematic, attempting to symbolically gather family together all in one place again. Here’s a virtual representation. Don’t peek, Mom, until everyone is there. Then click the box to open your gift in a new window.

I love you, Mom. Happy Birthday!

To balance the grimness of last week, here is a Yolanda King quote from her speech at the Martin Luther King Jr Convocation in Santa Cruz a couple of years ago. It suits my mood today! I am choosing to believe things will work out, that life can be fun and wonderful again, that I can control my reality with my thoughts. I am excited.

“I know in my heart the dream will be realized. I choose to believe. And choosing is a powerful thing. It’s available to you at every moment. You can choose understanding over anger, believing over nonbelieving, action over inaction. It gives meaning to every choice we make.”