Today is my mom’s birthday. Telling her age wouldn’t bother her, but she reared me to have manners, so I won’t tell her age, only that she’s a smidge over 80.

Delores Eade was born in Olean, N.Y., the second child to Henry and Albedia Eade. They were hard-working immigrants from Lebanon, and they welcomed their new dark-haired daughter with open arms.

She was quite a willful child growing up, or so the stories go. Her sister still has a scar on her hand from when my mom threw a fork at her and it stuck in her hand.

Then there’s the time she let go of the baby stroller carrying her little brother at the top of the hill and raced the buggy to the bottom. Luckily, she won.

Delores was a smart girl, but her parents were stubbornly old fashioned. Good Lebanese girls got married, had babies and lived near their parents. They did not go to college, but that wasn’t what my mom wanted.

She wanted to go to business school. So she told her father that her cousin was going and she supposed they weren’t as wealthy or as good as her cousin.

She knew her father could never accept that his children weren’t as good as his brother’s children, so my mom got to go off to business school.

A young coed, she met a handsome sailor in Virginia Beach one fun weekend. Old black-and-white pictures in an album show a vivacious woman on the beach with her friends, not a care in the world.

The young sailor was smitten with her, and she discovered, like her, he was Catholic and wanted a big family. They fell in love and thought they could figure out that she was a protected daughter from the North and he was a carefree, handsome son of a printer from the South.

They married and moved to the South, but when my dad’s father passed away, they moved back to the North, right next door to my grandparents. That lasted as long as it could, and then my dad moved his six children and his wife down to Louisiana.

It wasn’t easy. Her mother sent her hurtful letters about how she’d abandoned them, and week after week, my mom read those vile letters but never told us.

Instead, she went to work every day and then came home to prepare a hot dinner for her now seven children every single night without complaining.

I don’t remember being without anything I really needed, and I don’t remember my mother being gone – she was always there for all of us.

She stayed with an alcoholic husband who divorced her. But when he was terminally ill, she allowed him to move back in with her because she knew his grandchildren adored him and they needed each other.

She taught me it’s possible to forgive, even the most hurtful actions, and it’s possible to move forward and blossom, even when one thinks the roots are dead. She taught all of us to laugh at ourselves first and that there’s sunshine in even the darkest days.

She tells the truth, even when I don’t want to hear it, and having a hot cooked meal is the answer to almost all of life’s problems. We were never allowed to miss Sunday dinner with each other, and she always had a tablecloth on the table for those weekly meals after Mass.

She is adored by all seven of her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, siblings, nieces and nephews. Yet she takes that in stride, always claiming she’s the lucky one to be surrounded by such an incredible family.

So happy birthday, Delores Hebert Eade, mom, Siti, Sit-Siti and my best friend. I love you more than I can ever say. Thank you for not only being the best role model but for being someone who has shown me how to live and, more importantly, how to love.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald. 

Friday night football games are legendary in the South. From small towns to big cities, people love to rally around the home-town team, honoring athletes, wearing matching jerseys and filling the stadium seats. Doesn’t matter if it’s 98 degrees or 10 below, die-hard football fans show up.

What helps fuel the passion is often a cross-town rivalry. Growing up, my alma mater, Baker High School, was always in competition with Glen Oaks High School situated a few miles away.

Those games were always the most fun with chants and school pride thrown around like Mardi Gras beads.

Terry High and Lamar Consolidated High School are similar rivals. Lamar CHS was the first high school built when the Richmond and Rosenberg high schools combined into one school district, Lamar CISD. Terry was built soon afterwards.

Other high schools have come into the area, but Terry and Lamar have always maintained a friendly rivalry. So it was with good cheer fans from both sides crowded into Traylor Stadium for the fourth annual Battle of the Berg.

The schools have played each other numerous times, but the good-natured rivalry heated back up about four years ago. Since then, there’s a big bell that goes to the winner of The Battle of the Berg as well as bragging rights for the next year.

Each year, the schools choose a worthy organization to donate funds to and an organization to honor.

Firefighters and police officers were chosen this year and rightly so. Our first responders put their lives on the line every time they go out on a call. Most of us can’t say our jobs require us to risk our lives, but first responders sign up and then carry out that promise.

Before the game, police officers ran onto the field with the Lamar team, and firefighters ran onto the field with the Terry team.

Some of these brave men and women stood alongside the players on the 50-yard line for the coin toss to see who’d be receiving the ball first.

They were then invited to stand on the track as bystanders for an up-close view of the game, and they had huge smiles on their faces as they watched the football game unfold.

That is until they heard shouting in the stands and people pointing into the crowd. Immediately, these wonderful officers turned around and immediately jumped up and climbed over the fence to get to the person who’d passed out.

Men and women officers were on their radios as officers ran up the stands carrying medical equipment. With first responders giving him oxygen and monitoring his vital signs, the young man regained consciousness and the officers carefully brought him down on a stretcher where he recovered.

When things calmed down, the first responders came back down to the track to finish watching the game. I commended them for their quick action, and they said it was part of their job. They never know when they’re needed, but when they are, they’re there.

These first responders came to the Battle of the Berg to watch two rival teams compete to see who’d take home the trophy.

Instead, they saved someone’s life.

That’s the difference between what first responders do and the rest of us. At a minute’s notice, they are called upon to save a life, and the trophy was immediately forgotten. A life was much more important.

We are beyond blessed to have these fine men and women in our midst.

Thank you, first responders, for all you do, no matter where you are.

 

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald. 

Our neighbors did a huge favor for us last week, and I wanted to thank them.

A card didn’t seem like a big-enough effort, so I thought about ways to express our gratitude to Arthur and Courtney for the many ways they look out for us.

It’s hard to find ways to thank people these days. When I was growing up, my Aunt Vicky baked banana bread to show her appreciation.

I can still remember the sight of the bread as it sat on the counter, wrapped snugly in aluminum foil, a promise of a sweet snack later that day.

These days, it’s hard to bake something for someone to reciprocate for a variety of reasons. First, health. Most baked goods are fattening, but that’s also why they’re so popular.

Then there’s the whole sugar debate. Articles put sugar right up there with Satan, and those with little children look at you as if you’re trying to poison their child if you dare offer them a chocolate-chip cookie or a Little Debbie cake.

So baking goodies is out of the question.

I thought about baking a casserole, but diet and sugar comes up again. Plus, most people are trying to eat a healthy diet, and most of the recipes I have that transport well all have a ton of cheese and cream in them.

That’s why they taste good.

If I tried to make something healthy, I’m not sure how an asparagus zucchini soufflé would go over as an appreciation gift.

I thought about a gift bag, but non-perishables are often high in empty calories. Still, a gift bag with a DVD and some chips and salsa sounds like a great gift.

Until I remember that most people don’t have DVD players any more – they download their movies from Netflix or use a cable subscription.

I’ve given a board game and included bags of microwave popcorn, but the last time I checked, the fat and calorie content in Orville Redenbacher’s movie theater popcorn was higher than the bag of cookies I was considering, so I had to rethink that idea.

Plus most young people haven’t a clue what a board game is all about – they don’t know one can play solitaire with a real deck of cards.

Besides, I’d have to explain the use of a deck of cards.

There’s always candles, but I haven’t a clue who’s allergic to the smell of dandelions or lilac. Plus candles can be considered dangerous because people forget they’re burning them while they’re trying to convince themselves that air-popped popcorn does taste just as good as the kettle corn.

Checking off the list in my head, I could give serving dishes as a gift. A nice serving tray always comes in handy.

But with two young boys, I don’t think Courtney wants to wash and dry a chip and dip tray. Most of us just rip open the bag, take the lid off the jar of dip and everybody dives in.

There’s picture frames, but nobody prints out pictures any more. They’re all online or in our phones.

I could go with a bottle of wine, but I don’t think they like wine. Besides, I don’t really know the difference between a pinot noir and a cabernet, so I’d probably make a huge mistake when trying to find something suitable.

I think I saw a wine-of-the-month truck cruising our neighborhood, so I’d probably be giving a gift they’d already bought.

So I’m back to Square one. Looks like a hand-written thank-you card, delivered in person, is the final answer.

But that sweet banana bread is calling my name.

Now where’d I put that recipe from my Aunt Vicky?

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald. 

Even though the temperature’s still in the upper 90s, Christmas decorations are filling store shelves.

From artificial green garland to the creepy Elf on the Shelf, retailers are hoping to get our money early and quickly.

Toy manufacturers already have their top Christmas lists for kids posted online so parents can start buying and hiding gifts in the backs of closets.

Some of the hot toys include Baby Shark Fingerlings, based on the hit song “Baby Shark” that filled the airwaves this summer. These are just in case you did not hit overload from hearing “Baby Shark” a thousand times.

Predictions are that Blume dolls will be the most collectible toy this holiday season. Kids sprinkle water on top of their heads and they grow. At least that’s better the gross game where kids pop a pretend pimple and watch it squirt out something gooey.

For the kid that loves the bizarre, there’s a Treasure X aliens toy where kids perform an alien autopsy on creatures and dig through slimy innards to get a mystery prize.

Doesn’t every parent want to see an autopsy kit underneath the Christmas tree?

Crayola has a sprinkle art shaker where kids can sprinkle glitter all over their art work. You can stop right there – anything that has glitter is a definite no for your home.

Yes, kids love it. Yes, it looks pretty cool. But glitter is impossible to sweep or vacuum up. Tell your children that toy is for Grandma’s house.

Play Doh is fun.

Play Doh is inexpensive.

Play Doh is impossible to get out of your carpet.

Sand Art kits look like a lot of fun. Until your child spills the sand – which they are guaranteed to do – and you’re stepping on a gritty floor for two weeks.

Manufacturers are trying their best to get parents to buy kits where kids can make their own bubble bombs, lip gloss and perfume. Children will spill all the ingredients for all these kits. Children will become upset when the lip gloss tastes like glue. They will also become upset when the perfume smells like a cardboard box.

Instead, spring for Mr. Bubble, Chap Stix and inexpensive floral sprays and save yourself the trouble of trying to create your own Chanel No. 5.

One toy that kids will love is a Doodle Bear where they can draw all over a cute Teddy bear. Sounds like a fun toy as long as you can convince your 4-year-old that the Doodle Bear is the only toy they can draw on.

Not the walls.

Not the bedspread.

Not each other.

Just the Doodle bear.

You can buy foam that looks just like ice cream.

Kids will eat it.

Kids will grind it into the carpet.

Kids will paint the wall with the foam.

So forget the foam and stock up on Blue Bell ice cream instead.

There’s a slow-motion race game where the slowest person wins. Somebody designed this game who was never picked to be on a sports team or still believes games where you don’t keep score are a reality.

Barbie turns 60 this year and she’s still a go-getter. Our favorite blonde is now getting a dream plane where she can fly all over the world. That goes along with her Barbie Jeep, Barbie Dream house, Barbie Boat, Barbie Scooter and Barbie Glam Pool.

I’d love to be Barbie.

Paw Patrol is still popular. Now they’ve added the Mighty Pups figures, so even though you have all of the original Paw Patrol figurines and accessories, you’ll need to buy the Mighty Pups figures for a complete set. These franchises never miss a beat.

One that’s bound to be a hit with the kids and a nightmare for parents is Carpool Karaoke – the Mic. All you need to complete the descent into insanity is for your kids to be singing “Baby Shark” in unison while you’re stuck in traffic as they act out the song with their Shark Fingerlings.

So go ahead, start planning your strategy for getting the hottest toy of the season early. Just be sure and leave the Play Doh to the unsuspecting. You’ve been warned.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.