The Calendar

My Mom kept “the calendar”.  Not only did it have the dates of everyone’s birthday, anniversary, and so on, she also tracked certain dates using a special code that only insiders could crack.  Her calendars often included numbers preceded by a minus sign, like the “–120” seen on the calendar above on April 29.  That indicates that my Grandmother (my Dad’s mother) would have celebrated her 120^th birthday that day.   She would often call me and say, “our Grandmother would have been 120 today,” – or something along those lines. 

Today is a significant date in the Gisselquist calendar.  Today would have been my mother’s 84^th birthday.  I don’t keep a calendar like Mom’s.  Perhaps someone else has marked their calendar, “–84” today.  

I received two nice cards from those older relatives who are part of the “letter sending generation”.  It’s very thoughtful.  Maybe Facebook has a feature where you enter the dates that significant loved ones died, or their birthdays no longer celebrated, so that your Facebook friends can be prompted to send a message on those days.  (I’m sure there’s a way to do that – no need to send Facebook tips.)