Past Her Prime

Priscilla Charlotte Johnson Lussmyer

April 24, 1927 – May 16, 2013

            Mom liked 83 best.  “A prime number,” she would say.  On her 85^th birthday when I took her out to lunch, she proudly told the server she was now 83.  She stuck with 83 most of the time except once, when wondering why she was living in a memory care center with such very old people, she asked, “I’m only 73, aren’t I, Jan?”  She was quite relieved when I told her she was 85 (or was it 84)?

            So today I wonder what Mom would say about turning 88.  I am quite sure it would be a mathematically disappointing age:  in her mind, there would be nothing terribly special about being 4 x 22 or 2 x 44.  Here’s what I say about 88, though:  it is a fine number, though today it makes me miss her fiercely.