Happy Birthday Alice May

It’s only fitting that my mother has a birthday in the month of May. After all, her name is Alice May. If she was Alice June born in May…she might as well have been named Alice October.




Growing up, I was very impressed with my mother’s skills. I thought it was so cool that she could tap dance. How many moms do that? She would get the ole shuffle-tap going in our kitchen. She would shuffle across the floor from the oven to the frig...but never off to Buffalo.



If you are a Bacon freak…a Baconista, like I am…you will like my mother’s maiden name…Bacon. Growing up kid’s used to yell, “Hey Bacon, how about a strip!” or “What’s shakin’ Bacon?” The pork joke was usually never underdone.                



Alice May is 20 years older than I am, so when I graduated from high school she was only 37. No wonder my parents liked having their friends over on a Friday night….partaaay. They weren’t ready for the shuffleboard circuit.



When I was in high school, Alice May went back to nursing school to finish her degree. It was funny seeing her hit the books in study hall…at the dining room table right beside me. Alice became a great nurse with a caring gentle bedside manner. No Nurse Ratched…or Nurse Jackie.

               

Anywhoooo………………



When I was young I used to make labels of my name “Kathy-Anne Thomas the Greatest” with a label maker…and plaster them all over everything I owned. Why did I think I was the greatest? Because my mother made me think I was…and that is pretty special. It’s a great gift to give to a child. She is also a wonderful Nana and thinks her grandkids are pretty grand and special too.



Alice May has many friends who she still gets together with for lunch every Friday. I probably shouldn’t mention this, but they call her Gladys…which they pronounce “Glad Ass”…which they then have morphed into “Happy Bottom.” Nothing like good friends.  (I wonder if they've ever thought of Happy Bacon Bottom.)



Everybody loves Alice! It is easy to love her…she just has a way of tap dancing her way into your heart.