In 1990 all 13 of my mother’s children got together to celebrate her 70th birthday in Minnesota.  Some of us came great distances including my brother who buzzed the house in  an F-86 Sabre Jet from Pt. Mugu, CA to Duluth Air National Guard Base, scaring everyone but announcing his imminent arrival to her party.  I don’t really remember which one of us helped organize this tribute to Mom but it was a grand occasion that all of us will remember for the rest of our lives.

With my 70th approaching I wanted to make sure that I too would have my children with me.  They are both accomplished young women who could easily afford their own trip but their vacation time from work is probably more valuable to them and I wasn’t convinced they’d want to spend it with me especially since we all live within a few miles of one another.  So I did what any “tiger” mother would do and bought a package for the 3 of us!

We met in Turin, Italy after flying different airlines to ready ourselves for a 6 day hiking adventure with Backroads Active Travel, staying in delightful inns, getting our daily exercise and enjoying both the scenery and each other. Pictured below is the finish line in Portofino after the last hike followed by the good-bye dinner the next evening!

It was time that my mother’s gifts to me were paid forward.  Truly this experience was one of the best birthdays to date!  P.S. my cake……chocolate lava with gelato.