Being a Catholic from south Louisiana, family get-togethers are anything but small, quiet affairs. So when we asked my mom what she wanted for her 80th birthday and she said for all of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to sit down together for a family meal, we should’ve realized the immediate guest list would number over 60.

  Her request didn’t surprise us. Dee Hebert, Siti to her grandchildren and Sit-Siti to her great-grandchildren, is a giving, loving person with a quick sense of humor. She’s well known for her off-the-cuff comments, including her infamous advice to my single brother.

  “Go to the family reunion,” she told him. “There’ll be girls there.” An unforgettable story about finding a parking spot at the airport is priceless as is the time she made a milkshake with my nephew and they forgot to put the lid on the blender.

  Then there were the afternoons when she encouraged her youngest granddaughter to make soup, and that little girl put everything in the pot but the salt shaker.

  She’s also the blueprint for being a fantastic grandmother because she never holds back her love. Every grandchild will tell you she doesn’t like one more than the other, but then, they’ll lean over and whisper “But I’m really her favorite.”

  She never asks for anything for herself, and nothing makes her happier than fixing somebody something to eat.

  The second-best way to make her happy is to have her seven children, 19 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren – there’s no “step” as far as Mom’s concerned – all together under her roof. Add in her nieces and nephews, and my mom is one happy camper.

  This year marks her 80th birthday, and we’ve been asking for months what she wanted. She always gave us the same answer – to have a nice meal with her children and their families.

  Finally accepting her simple request, we realized having that many people in one place was going to be difficult, but my sister-in-law found The Bennett House, a family-owned business, specializing in wedding receptions and family parties, less than two miles from Mom’s house.

  Everybody chipped in to make the day special. Siblings opened their homes and services to out-of-town guests. One granddaughter took care of designing and ordering the cake and another granddaughter picked up party favors for the great-grandchildren.

  Two granddaughters had a brilliant idea to make place cards bearing Mom’s zany sayings. One sister printed dozens of family photos to spell out a giant eight and a zero.

  My sister and niece surprised mom with a gift she didn’t expect. Weeks before the party, they sent out secret messages to relatives and Mom’s friends, asking them for their favorite story about her.

  The response to the secret Facebook site was overwhelming. Some stories we knew, others were surprises, yet the steady undercurrent was that Mom always made her friends and family feel special and loved.

  My sister created 80 envelopes, each one containing a separate memory, and she gave them to Mom at the party. Mom said she spent hours reading and re-reading the letters, and she was still on Cloud 9 days later.

  I’ve seen my mom happy, but I’ve never seen her happier than the afternoon we spent celebrating her 80th birthday. It wasn’t that she was the center of attention. It was that when she looked out over the room, she was surrounded by happy faces she loved and who loved her back.

  And each person in that room was thinking the same thing – “I’m so glad I’m her favorite.”

  I love you, Mom.

  Happy birthday.

 

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.